The power of myth

Posted on | September 25, 2006 | 1 Comment

I was re-reading some of Andrew Lockhart Walker’s “The Revival of the Democratic Intellect” (his update on George Davies’ celebrated book, “The Democratic Intellect”). Walker’s book, while persuasive in parts, is too long on partial vituperation and too short on serious analysis. But it did serve to remind me just how powerful is the set of myths that surround Scottish education, the notion of the democratic intellect being just one element within the set.

I should say that the term ‘myth’ is used here by no means pejoratively or dismissively. I use the term in the sense agreed by Gray, McPherson and Raffe, in their 1982 publication: “Reconstructions of Secondary Education: Theory, Myth and Practice since the War” [sorry, can't find the reference]. In this, they defined ‘myth’ as:

“….a story that people tell about themselves…for two purposes….first, to explain the world and, second, to celebrate identity and express values.”

Myth, therefore, tends to involve an unconscious distortion of reality rather than an intentional fiction or falsehood. It generally seeks to celebrate identity and values that, while they may be of a sentimental or romanticised nature, they can be powerful agents for the affirmation of national identity and the assertion of popular values.

Scottish education can certainly boast a few distinctive myths in this sense: they might be summarised by phrases such as the lad o’ pairts, the school dominie, the Kirriemuir career and, of course, the democratic intellect. The interesting thing about such a set of mythic elements, however, is that they need not be mutually reinforcing. In other words, they can be internally contradictory when taken together, but each element will be used in different contexts to suit different purposes. Only those myths suited to the moment will be deployed.

Nor need they be particularly old to enjoy the status of myth in Scottish education. The myth that Scotland has always been at heart a country that accepts the principle of comprehensive education (some have typified us as a country in which ‘the sheep and the goats are not separated’) simply does not stand up to historical rigour. As recently as 1965, John McEwan, then Director of Education for Lanarkshire, could be, according to McPherson et al:

“…openly dismissive of the case for comprehensive re-organization, blaming English sociologists and Scottish ideologues for its currency.”

Nonetheless, the comprehensive principle is now a well-established element of the Scottish education myth (and long may it stay there!).

I would be interested to know whether other national education systems sustain their own myths, their own stories that help them to maintain a particular identity or a specific set of values. Anyone out there feel like commenting?

Technorati Tags: democratic intellect, george elder davie, myth, scottish education

Category: education

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One Response to “The power of myth”

BLC07 McIntosh No.1: Why Scotland Has Been Blogging For 5 Million Years | Wealth Making Softwares
August 13th, 2007 @ 6:52 pm

[...] The Scotland 20:20 report sets out eight myths, eight stories on which Scottish educators, politicians, parents and pupils have drawn over the years to explain away why some things work and others don’t. The links on these give you John Connell’s excellent summaries of what they mean: [...]