Preface

I do not hold that the main virtue of education reposes in its economic consequences. Quite the reverse. I should tonight advocate a greater educational effort in Australia, even if its sole economic consequences were to reduce national production … I should do this since I believe that democracy implies making educational opportunities as equal as possible and that the working of democracy depends on increasing the number of citizens with the capacity for clear and informed thought on political and social issues. Moreover, I hold that the areas of expanded activity which education opens should be made as wide as possible.Peter Karmel, ‘Some economic aspects of education’, the Buntine Oration, 18 May 1962