Technology, education, and social change: a programme for survival

The thesis sets out to recommend a curriculum and a method of school organisation which would be relevant to the requirements of the school pupils of today and the near future. The suggested curriculum is to involve the integration of environmental studies with each of the subject areas studied at school. The graduated development of democratic procedures is recommended for application in schools in order to develop abilities in, and habits of responsible decision-making in the maturing young. It is maintained that the adoption of these measures would be likely to produce citizens who would not only understand the urgent problems involved in the survival of the human race in the face of pressing environmental deterioration, but would also be capable of taking dynamic action in the community in order to ensure the application of correct environmental principles. The thesis is based on a survey of the influences of philosophical idealism, both past and present, on both society and education; this survey is undertaken in order to trace the channelling of thought that results from a pervasive but often unexamined system of philosophical belief. The relationship between idealism and environmental degradation is discussed.