Politics and Education

Politics and Education: Cases from eleven nations tackles the relationship between politics and education. The book presents several dimensions of the politics-education relationship, such as the use of education in achieving political agendas and the effects of the interest of a political group on educational policy. The book present cases from 11 different countries that show the interaction between education and politics, such as the use of educational policy as a compensatory legitimation in West Germany; the educational opportunity under pre- and post-revolutionary condition in Nicaragua; and the education and the maintenance of the social-class system in Jamaica. The text will be of great interest to readers concerned with the implication of political agendas for the education system of a country.

Preface

Chapter 1 The Symbiotic Linking of Politics and Education

Meanings Assigned to Education and Politics

A Model of Politics-Education Interaction

Functions of Influence

Strategies for Exerting Influence

Conclusion

Part I Strategies for Using Education to Achieve Political Ends

Chapter 2 West Germany: Educational Policy as Compensatory Legitimation

The Erosion of Legitimacy and the State's Response

Strategies of Compensatory Legitimation in West German Educational Policy

Conclusion

Chapter 3 Zaire: The State and the University

University Autonomy and Academic Freedom

Regional Imbalances and the University Quota System

The Political Pressure for Relevance

Conclusions

Chapter 4 Nicaragua: Educational Opportunity under Pre- and Post-revolutionary Conditions

Pre-revolutionary Politics

Pre-revolutionary Education

Politics in Post-revolutionary Nicaragua

Conclusions

Chapter 5 The United States of America: The Languages of Education: New Ethnicity and the Drive to Power

Ethnicity in the American Context

Bilingual Education and the Law

Summary and Conclusions

Part II Patterns of Majority-minority Group Relations

Chapter 6 The Peoples Republic of China: Educational Policy and National Minorities: The Politics of Intergroup Relations

An Analytical Viewpoint

China's National Minorities: The Context

Early Minorities Policy 1949-1966

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966-1976

The Four Modernizations Movement 1976-Present

Conclusion

Chapter 7 Malaysia: Cooperation Versus Competition or National Unity Versus Favored Access to Education

The Roots of Malaysian Ethnic Patterns

The Birth of Malaysia - A Problem in Social Structure

Aims and Strategies

The Two Faces of Education

Results and Rationales

Chapter 8 Jamaica: Education and the Maintenance of the Social-class System

Characteristics of Colonial Education Systems

Class Structure in Jamaica

The Development of Secondary Schooling: The Colonial Era

Secondary Schooling after Independence

A Challenge to the Socio-political Structure

Summary and Conclusions

Part III Multiple Group Influences on Educational Decisions

Chapter 9 Israel: Political Roots and Effects of Two Educational Decisions

The Structural-change Decision—8-4 to 6-3-3

Analysis of the Structural-change Decision 196

The Curricular-change Decision in Vocational Education

Analysis of the Curricular-change Decision

Epilogue

Chapter 10 England and Wales: Muted Educational Confrontations in a Parliamentary Democracy

Significant Political Forces

Political Ideology and Educational Practice

Educator's Social Power

Realignments of Education

Egalitarianism and Economic Needs

Chapter 11 Canada: Educational Decisions within a Mosaic of Interest Groups

An Overview of Canadian Education

Canadian Education: An Historical Analysis

Chapter 12 Cameroon: Regional, Ethnic, and Religious Influences on a Post-colonial Education System

Colonialism, Ethnicity, and Religion an Economic Asset

Education and Political Policy

Harmonization of the Educational Structure

Educational Reform

Access to and Demand for Education

Primary-School Teacher Shortage: North and Northwest

Administrative Factors

Conclusion

Chapter 13 Lessons from the 11 Nations

Can Internal Politics Be Avoided

The State's Influence on Education

The Usefulness of Separating Internal from General Politics

Politicization Redefined

Degrees of Educational Politicization: A Comparison of the 11 Nations

Conclusion

Index