The Open Conception of Education and Educational Travel: Some Historical Considerations in Comparative Sociology

It is usually presumed that the function of education is that of selection and that this is the most important conception of education of which sociologists should be aware. This paper presents historical and comparative material from two contrasting societies—Graeco-Roman Antiquity and West Africa in the late Middle Ages—which shows that the selective function was relatively unimportant. The paper concludes by suggesting that educational conceptions take a variety of forms.