ABSTRACT
The view under consideration here takes either a purely instrumental view of education or places so much importance on the instrumental view as to seriously play down any liberal education element even when some form of balance between the two is being nominally advocated. The view has often been tacit or implicit, revealing itself most often in the criteria apparent in criticisms of the alleged shortcomings of the educational system or of its lack of relevance. For a pupil to complain that his education is not relevant to the job he wants to do, or fails to equip him to face unemployment, is to assume that education has a proper instrumental purpose that it has failed to fulfil. For a prime minister to chide the system for failing to produce the scientists and technologists the country needs is to assume that the education system has manpower provision responsibilities that it is neglecting. For a politician to complain that the education system allows pupils to leave school with unfavourable attitudes towards wealth-creation or technological growth or competition, is to suggest that there are proper attitudes for an education system to foster. 1
