ABSTRACT
When a philosopher of education reads the literature on open education, he might very well be impressed by the emotionality and vagueness of it all, for, search as he will, he is not likely to find concepts of teaching and learning that are—by his standards—clearly articulated. He finds nothing resembling the Herbartian steps of pedagogy or the Deweyan phases of reflective thought. He might easily conclude that its advocates are so clear and comprehensive in their rejections that they have left little for themselves to recommend except openness itself. Indeed, the vagueness of this literature disappears when it is interpreted as precisely wanting openness as such, as if sheer openness were its summum bonum, to which everything else should be subordinated. The word 'open' consequently opens a startling new perspective, for now the entire educational process can be seen through the concepts of openness and closedness. These two concepts could form the basis of a theoretical distinction that, sufficiently elaborated, could furnish a complete theory of education.
