Education

The lectures on education were delivered at the Conference by Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis. These two also presented ideas to an Education Conference over the following two days. They are the leading Marxist analysts of education in advanced capitalist countries.

The Marxist approach to education takes on two roles: one on analysis of education in capitalist society, the other a critique of liberal ideas of schooling (particularly of Dewey and Illich). We'll take them in this order.

Of course, schools are not the only institutions carrying out these functions. As much of the analysis of the state shows there are many others - the Church, the family, and so on. There is increasing agreement that schooling's role is a vital one, even the most vital.