ABSTRACT
The terms ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ and others used as synonyms-progressive, open traditional-have been value-laden words in the so-called Great Debate in England and the increasingly bitter public controversy over ‘back to the basics’ and ‘accountability’ on the other side of the Atlantic. Proponents of informal education often associate it with freedom, child-centeredness, priority on creative expression, rejection of traditional distinctions between school subjects, and continue to argue that informal methods make a positive contribution to the solution of many of our pressing educational and societal problems. Conservative detractors, increasingly vocal, portray such methods as a source of the problems, as contributing in significant measure to a loosening, if not a total abandonment, of standards in basic subjects, placing the emphasis on psychological well-being to the detriment of intellectual development, pandering to immediate interests of children rather than developing in them respect for tradition and authority. Leftist critics sometimes take another tack; they portray progressive methods as perhaps well-intentioned, but just one more liberal-social democratic delusion that contributes to the maintenance of the status quo.
