Metathetical

It seems so long ago that this was written. I shall also note that when I wrote this, I had switched off the Anglophone part of my brain.

When this research project was first mooted, the general hypothesis looked rather straightforward. The state has its objectives, in a strong state the various instrumentalities of the state will include schools in a centralised school system, schools will therefore be used to pursue state objectives. In an age of globalisation, schools will be used to prepare citizens to reach outward, to anchor them homeward, and to insulate them from unwanted influences and effects.

As can be seen, the exploration did not exactly produce such a straightforward single-thread narrative structure. States sometimes have conflicting or irreconcilable objectives, states have past histories and unique situational needs; schools are not completely faceless and mindless instruments of policy; citizens have their own minds. In this study of even a relatively tiny state, the number of sociocultural influences competing to make the most of historical and geographical circumstances quickly multiplied into a complex tapestry of threads.

According to most of the literature on the globalisation of education, two main types of motivation orientation persist. Either the world will follow common economic goals and education will be used primarily to develop human capital to obtain the most from the resultant homogeneous and ubiquitous economic system; or the world will follow common socially progressive goals and education will be used primarily to develop human beings, regardless of race, language or religion, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for all.