ABSTRACT
We owe the concept of an educational ideal as a means of historical inquiry to Mannheim. He defined it as ‘a residue of attitudes, principles and forms of behaviour’ which shapes educational aims and arrangements in a period of history (Mannheim and Stewart 1962: 39). This concept enabled him to debunk the notion — which still prevails — that education has certain universal and eternal aims. He was able to demonstrate that educational aims have a historical character, that they change as much as the guiding ideals of other cultural activities change over time. The concept of an educational ideal also served Mannheim as a method of analysis. He used it both for historical investigations and for participating in the discussion of educational aims in his own day. I intend to use the concept as a means to identify an organizing principle in Indian colonial education during the nineteenth century.
