The Rise of the Modern Educational System
Structural Change and Social Reproduction 1870–1920

Detlef Müller (Edited by), Fritz Ringer (Edited by), Brian Simon (Edited by)

9780521366854, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 November 1989

280 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

'The Rise of the Modern Educational System provides an introduction to recent research on European secondary education, disputes the myth that individual achievement in schooling typically allows social advancement, and identifies issues and questions still awaiting clarification. The contributors' efforts at transatlantic dialogue and collaboration also deserve to be lauded.' Academe

The Rise of the Modern Educational System is a pioneering socio-historical analysis of change and development in secondary education in three European countries (England, France, Germany) in the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The authors develop novel theoretical forms of analysis - in particular those of 'systematisation' (Muller) and 'segmentation' (Ringer) - which enables a genuine cross-cultural study and assessment to be effectively carried through. Although clear historical and institutional differences between the three countries are apparent, overall patterns of development emerge as remarkably similar. In particular a common basic transformation of secondary education is shown to have taken place during the period covered (1870–1920), having the objective result of ensuring social reproduction. Special attention is given to the basic restructuring of education in England during this period, where processes of systematisation and segmentation, similar to those operating in France and Germany, resulted in the establishment of a sharply differentiated, hierarchical structure by the close of the nineteenth century.

Introduction
Part I. Concepts and hypotheses
1. The process of systematisation: the case of German secondary education
2. On segmentation in modern European educational systems: the case of French secondary education, 1865–1920
3. Systematisation and segmentation in education: the case of England
Part II. Structural Change and Social Reproduction in England
4. Defining institutions: the grammar schools and the systematisation of English secondary education
5. The reconstruction of secondary education in England, 1869–1920
6. The sinews of society: the public schools as a 'system'
7. Structural change in English higher education, 1870–1920
Part III. Debate and Concluding Discussion
8. The debate on secondary school reform in France and Germany
9. On 'systems' of education and their comparability: methodological comments and theoretical alternatives
10. Systematisation: a critique
11. Segmentation: a critique
Concluding comments
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]