Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemUtopia, community and education: Robert Owen and the co-operative movement, Britain 1800-1845( 1986)Mankind seems to entertain a perennial dissatisfaction with the present. The ideal of a better, even perfected, future is also perennial and equally likely to occur in the individual consciousness as the collective one. In times of turmoil and hardship, the more visionary individuals have articulated schemes for a better future, and these have become known as 'utopias'. This thesis represents an exploration of one episode of utopian thought. Robert Owen's vision for a better world was formed against the background of the industrialization of Britain early in the nineteenth century. In the following analysis of Owen's thinking, three contentions are posited: 1. Owen and the followers of his doctrines saw an inextricable link between education and the community. 2. Owenism can profitably be interpreted within the context of the tradition of utopian thought. 3. The concept of community provides a wholeness and unity in Owen's thinking. The first chapter examines the nature of utopian thought, something which appears necessary to understand Owen's concept of the community. Subsequent chapters deal with Owen's design for the ideal community, the mode of education he felt should attend this, and the links between the two. The conclusion summarizes and draws together the above contentions, considers the possibilities for further research, and argues for the relevance of Owen as a possible theoretical precursor to current educational thinking which emphasizes the role of the community.
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ItemHenry Sidgwick and reform at Cambridge, 1859 to 1900( 1990)Henry Sidgwick was the epitome of a 'Victorian Don'. He first went up to Cambridge in 1857, was elected to a trinity Fellowship in 1859, and lived and worked at the University until his death in 1900. On the rare occasions that he receives acknowledgement for his academic and reforming achievements there is a tendency for authors to depict him as a rather unfulfilled intellectual, hidden in the 'ivory tower' atmosphere of Cambridge University, writing dull uninteresting treatises on moral philosophy. This picture is untrue and is more a reflection of twentieth century perception of the Victorian Era than of reality. Henry Sidgwick was an attractive vital man who translated this vitality into joining the reform movement at Cambridge. He lived out his life at Cambridge, from the age of seventeen years until his death, as an active reformer of university education, and man fully aware of the worldly scene. Sidgwick mixed with and was related to some of the most influential men in England. His sister's husband, Edward Benson, became Archbishop of Canterbury, and his wife's brother, Arthur Balfour, the Earl of Balfour, was an active politician who became Prime Minister of Great Britain after Henry's death. Henry Sidgwick took a vigorous interest in many aspects of life, the role of the Church, politics, theology, psychic phenomena, as well as academic reform; he was never trapped in an ivory tower. He was a gregarious individual whose presence enhanced any social gathering, a sturdy don who, when instructed by his doctor to get more exercise, ran through the streets of Cambridge daily, his gown billowing in the wind: A man singularly lacking in vanity, he neither sought or expected recognition and although considered by some as the author of the most important contribution by an Englishman to moral philosophy, he is not well-known. He has not received due recognition for his efforts, mainly successful, to reform education at Cambridge. The aim of this thesis is to shed some further light on the personality and reforming achievements of this enlightened and just man, without whom Cambridge and higher education would have been the poorer.