ABSTRACT
Schools are but one among many influences on social evolution, and on the physical, intellectual and moral development of children. Schooling and social purpose interact with each other in a complex and endless cycle of purpose, meaning, interpretation and action, a sort of hermeneutic cycle of social policy. The publicness or privateness of schooling arrangements, or for that matter, arrangements for any mixed or public good, are far from transparently obvious givens. The greatest single temptation confronting governments with regard to education at the moment may well be to focus too narrowly on the economic rationale for public education. Schooling which neglects its relationship with the work world is a one-way ticket to Third World status. Public policy should foster schooling arenas which avoid the worst mistakes of the past; avail themselves of the potential of education to contribute to the common good in pluralistic societies; and, at the same time, secure social cohesion even as they increase educational equity.
