THE CONTEMPORARY REVOLUTION IN EDUCATION

Résumé

The present revolution in education ... is ... complicated, . . . penetrating, . . . widespread, . . . profound. Its urgency and its depth may be judged from the fact that until this century, no society couid afford to educate more than a handful of persons, whereas now no nation can survive unless almost all its citizens are educated to the limit of their potential. We have been forced to move suddenly from dependence on an educated elite to dependence on an educated citizenry and this demands profound changes in our philosophy, our structures, our methods, our priorities. Concrete evidence of these changes can be found in the reform movements in Europe during the past twenty years, where a Royal Commission has been continuously at work in Sweden; in France, beginning with the Langevin-Wallon Commission; and, in the United Kingdom, where the Butler Act of 1944 has been followed by studies conducted by the Crowther, Newsom and Robbins Committees and profound changes in structure and policy.