ABSTRACT
Lacking the autonomy of the chartered professions, teachers have always been divided and ruled. Quite apart from the fact that the service they offer has no very distinctive expertise, no indispensable ‘mystery’ which enables them to make their own terms, they do not form a homogeneous body. When greater militancy is needed they are unable to close their ranks. In short, so far as the general run of teachers are concerned, it looks as if a culture-test may provide as useful a yardstick as any – always on the understanding that no single yardstick can hope to be infallible. Always taking care not to talk above the children’s heads, sharing the company of others who do the same, rarely or never meeting new learning situations which demand the exercise of intellectual powers, keeping in tune with the minds and emotions of the very young – all this calls for a dedication and self-sacrifice which is wholly admirable.
