ABSTRACT
Comenius believed that universal education could never be achieved without a complete change in the social structure. The ‘good man’ could not live in a social vacuum any more than a ‘good society’ could be created without the reformation of its component units of individuals. Therefore the ‘relief of man's estate’ could only come about through a parallel change of man and society and education was necessary at three levels. First there must be effected a change of attitudes from suspicion to trust and from aggressiveness to co-operation and this would operate invisibly whatever the particular form of external organization. Nevertheless a structure was necessary and Comenius believed that there was no inherent threat to the liberty of the individual in a ‘well-ordered’ society. But both the invisible society and the well-ordered society would be sterile unless its members were inspired by a perspective beyond their present experience towards a Utopian society. Universal education depended upon all three aspects being developed simultaneously and in harmony with each other.
