Hello All!
The following material was prepared by my colleague and friend Graham Oliver
http://www2.waikato.ac.nz/education/edstudies/oliver/education.htm
Part 2 continued from previous message
 Intrinsic and instrumental value of Education
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In focussing attention on the "educated person", Peters
rightly identifiedÿit  as a concept which is laden with
positive value, and that the valueÿis intrinsic. In this
sense of "education", we do not attempt to becomeÿeducated
as a means to something else, such as a job, but because the
qualitiesÿof the  truly educated person are just those that
are desirable for a personÿto have.  For this reason,
education doesn't have an aim, or extrinisic,ÿor
instrumental  purpose, and this distinguishes it from
training, whichÿalways does. If it makes sense to say it, it
is its own "aim". Thus, thereÿis a dramatic difference in
meaning between this concept and the ways inÿwhich
"education"  is advocated as a solution to problems of the
economy,ÿor social ills such as  crime or bad driving. When
education is talked ofÿas a means to solving such  problems,
this crucial conceptÿwhich Peters has identified has dropped
out of  consideration. This does not mean that education
cannot have a positiveÿinfluence on such instrumental
things. What it does mean is that there are more
importantÿreasons for engaging in it, and that if such
instrumental reasons replace these real reasons,ÿthen
education of a more important kind disappears, or is
corrupted. Weÿmight need to be convinced that  the
educational reasons are the more important ones, of course.
ÿÿÿ
 The Three Conditions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 As a result of making comparisons between the "educated
person" andÿthe "trained person", Peters concluded that the
following three conditionsÿwere  necessary to the correct
application of the most central meaningsÿof the word
"education":ÿ
ÿ
that "education" implies the transmission of what is
worthwhile to those who  become committed to it;
ÿ
 that "education" must involve knowledge and understanding
and some kind of cognitive perspective, which are not inert;
ÿ
 that "education" at least rules out some procedures of
transmission, on the  grounds that they lack wittingness and
voluntariness on the part of the learner.
 Some interpretation of these conditions is necessary. In
the first condition,ÿfor example, "the transmission of what
is worthwhile" is not just a transmissionÿof whatever those
in power might like to think worthwhile, it is  the
transmissionÿof a commitment to the pursuit of truth, and to
the quest for  the bestÿstandards of reason for seeking the
truth. This, in turn, is to be  interpretedÿin terms of
traditional ways in which the truth has been pursued,
whichÿcomes out as something like the traditional academic
disciplines. Truthÿis of value for its own sake. It needs no
further justification than thatÿit is a good in itself. For
Peters, this is what gives education its intrinsic
value.ÿÿThe second condition states that there must be
breadth across theseÿdisciplines, with some work in depth,
and that connections and  interrelationshipsÿamong the
elements must be recognised and understood, which  Peters
describesÿas "cognitive perspective". The elements must, in
some important sense,ÿbe parts of a whole. This knowledge
and understanding must  make a differenceÿto the person.
They must be transformed as a result of acquiring it --
beÿdifferent for it, and act differently because of it.ÿÿ
The final condition follows from the first. If the learner
is to comeÿto pursue the truth for themselves, the reasoning
they come to employ mustÿgenuinely be their own, and not
that of their teachers or other influentialÿpeople. It is
inconceivable that people could come to do thisÿthrough
processes in which they were unwitting or involuntary
participants.ÿThis does not mean that they must be like this
through every educationalÿincident, or with respect to every
piece of learning (particularly  in theÿearly stages). But
in important respects, the process must be characterisedÿby
wittingness and voluntariness.
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Feedback invited.
Cheers
Chris
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