School as an Institution in a Highly Technological Society

Abstract

This chapter discusses school as an institution in a highly technological society. In several countries, well into the twentieth century, primary schooling was not full-time but part-time, the age of school entry was kept very flexible and the curriculum was not graded. The chapter presents nine criteria that can go into a definition of school. These criteria are (1) it is an institution with full-time attendance, (2) certain age specifications for school-entry and school leaving are laid down, (3) the model of instruction is the frontal one, (4) the rriculum is graded, (5) the size of the basic unit, the local school house or compound of houses, has grown with urbanization and consolidation of school districts, (6) the size of the system has grown as more children belong to it for an extended number of years, (7) the objectives of the school have been widened from the limited one of imparting cognitive skills and competencies to the ones which constitute social education, (8) the growth has called for better coordination that has led to the growth of the administrative machinery and by the introduction of various specialized services, and (9) supervision tends progressively to become tighter and operations more uniform under more centralized regulations.