Discussie over Het pedagogisch regiem

Samenvatting

A review essay on a book by Geert de Vries, Het pedagogisch regiem. Groei en grenzen van de geschoolde samenleving ([The Pedagogical Regime. Growth and Limits of the Educational Community] Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1993 [see listing in IRPS No. 81]). De Vries's study is a highly readable exploration of the role of education in society and has become one of the most frequently cited and criticized dissertations of 1993. His main thesis is that education alone only serves as a means to reinforce social selection in a society. Other structural elements must be addressed to bring about needed changes. Important chapters focus on the history of education in the Netherlands, educational policy, education and the labor market, and youth unemployment and delinquency. It is argued that some of de Vries's arguments are oversimplified, and that attention to certain details is lacking. In Slechts drie(!) tabellen! (Only Three(!) Tables!), de Vries replies that Peschar missed the distinction between educational and social chances along with many other points. In Het Gelijk Van De Vries (The Same as de Vries), Peschar replies that his earlier comment describing the difficulties of conducting a quantitative study of four centuries of Dutch education was not intended as a criticism, but rather as an assessment of the vast scope of de Vries's undertaking. M. Meeks