ABSTRACT
There are interesting parallels between the 1880s and the 1980s. Then as now the development of the economy was the subject of much debate, and then as now the explanation for perceived deficiencies was sought in terms of the inadequacies of the educational system. Vocational education was the object of particular attention in the 1880s as in the 1980s, and then as now the debate was conducted in characteristically narrow terms. One sees the same preoccupations and the same – wrong – answers emerging. It is particularly interesting, then, to look back at a contribution to the debate which offered a different perspective: Kropotkin’s.
