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From International Socialism, No.21, Summer 1965, p.31.
Transcribed & marked up by by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The Control of Education
John Vaizey
Faber, 30s.
A disappointing collection of inter-related essays written at different times between 1958 and 1963. The pioneer in Britain of the study of education as an economic investment, Mr Vaizey underlines here (as in his previous books, The Costs of Education and The Economics of Education) with a wealth of statistics the truism which many of us, presumably serendipists all, have loudly proclaimed for years: that the children of any country are that country’s greatest capital investment. Unfortunately his statistics depersonalise the educational process; they, and his thesis, effectively remove all humanity from education – and after all, education is above all about people – children and teachers, parents and administrators. Mr Vaizey’s approach is the apotheosis of statistical soullessness, the approach which parallels that of the psychometrist who at 11-plus attempts to sort of children for various types of secondary school and reduces them – in his search for statistical perfection – to the status of holes on a Hollerith punched card. It is when Mr Vaizey deserts his preoccupation with statistics that he becomes vital and provocative, that his words live on the page; e.g. his brief comments on the Duke of Edinburgh’s award and the ‘Gordonstoun heresy’.
When, however, one realises that Mr Vaizey is a Labour supporter, and that his advice is treasured in the upper reaches of the National Union of Teachers and the Labour Party, one is shocked at his pessimistic outlook: ‘Let us imagine for a moment that 100,000 perfectly trained teachers came down from Mars, with several thousand easily inflatable schools, and that they were available to work in Birmingham, Essex and elsewhere. The Minister would not know where to turn ... It is the shortage of teachers that keeps the financial structure of education alive.’ A pessimistic outlook which suggests that he has not seriously contemplated the place of education in a socialist society; only its place under a Labour Government in a capitalist society.
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Last updated on 11.9.2007