ABSTRACT
Modern societies have invested huge expectations and huge resources in formal education. This is particularly true of wealthy industrialized societies, where the proportion of children and young people in schooling has reached levels unprecedented in human history. Not only are schools expected to impart knowledge and skills; they are also given a large part of the task of socialization – expected to shape children into adults with the character qualities that society demands. Education is asked to make children more cooperative, more creative, more sensitive, more independent, less aggressive, and more disciplined – among other things. In short, education is seen as a shaper of selves.
