ABSTRACT
Much of what purports to be education is charged with being indoctrination. It is implied that the two are incompatible. Though both involve (but are not simply reducible to) the acquisition of beliefs and attitudes (a feature which generally serves to distinguish indoctrination from classical conditioning), indoctrination, unlike education, is given a negative evaluation. Just how this evaluation is to be seen in relation to the concept of indoctrination is a point about which there is some nispute. Is indoctrination something like killing - generally regarded as a bad thing-but in no way so by definition? Or is it more like murder, which picks out kil1ing of a particularly despicable kind, and which cannot be defined without reference to normative considerations? The issue is somewhat confused by etymologicaJ and historicaJ. factors. There is no doubt a use of 'indoctrination' in which it means little more than the inculcation of attitudes, beliefs, doctrines or teachings (cf. the Oxford English Dictionary) , a use which still has some currency in certain military contexts (an indoctrination programme may be seen as a desirable part of a soldier's training). Where so used, the goodness or badness of indoctrination awaits additional inf'ormation. But that is not the use which has figured in contemporary educational discussion, and which we shall be considering here. As used in contemporary discussion, the d.isvalue of indoctrination is built into the very concept.
