ABSTRACT
Educational conservatism found its most vocal expression in the polemical set of Black Papers issued from 1969 onwards. Initially, these were dismissed very easily by those in schools and higher education, but later they had to be taken very seriously indeed as their criticisms struck raw nerves in both politicians and parents. Educational conservatism represented a reaction to the so-called ‘libertarianism’, believed by Black Paper writers to have characterized education in the sixties. Black Paper slogans included ‘Back to the basics’, The preservation of standards’, and The importance of structure’. As this first extract shows, liberal romantic (as well as social democratic) notions of ‘freedom’, ‘equality of opportunity’, and ‘noncompetitive ethos’ were violently attacked and, reinterpreted, were used as weapons against the purveyors of ‘left-wing radicalism’ in the schools. Primary education was singled out as a major cause of student unrest and other unwelcome tendencies and phenomena both within education and the wider society. Though some of the ten points do not apply directly to primary education, ‘Black Paper Basics’ is reproduced in full here; it represents educational conservatism at its most assertive and strident. The ten points advanced are regarded by their authors as self-evident; there is no invitation to discussion, only pressure to concur. The emotional appeal of such confident assertions to anxious politicians, parents and teachers cannot be disputed; their intellectual validity is much more open to question.
