The Value of Education in the Modern Society

Abstract

The change of the value of education as a factor of social promotion and social equality has been induced by two things: 1) in the modern society which has created a system of learning and education in which everyone who wants to study can do that, education has ceased to be a rare thing; 2) the modern society is no longer interested in a general education but in particular kinds of education; it promotes and elevates individuals who are qualified in technical and economical domains to a higher rank on the social scale.

In the modern society there develops and becomes popular a special type of the intelligentsia whom the author calls „the technical and economical intelligentsia”. They know how to accomplish particular ends but cannot give a satisfactory answer to the following questions: what are the effects of their action, what do they ultimately serve, and what significance do they have for man as a spiritual and corporal being. According to J. Habermas these problems cannot be solved by the intelligentsia alone. They need help from the humanistic intelligentsia. However, in view of economy, they create rather weak social groups, yet their importance is great and will increase. They establish a kind of counterculture or rather alternative culture in relation to that which is being formed by technicians managers. The author thinks that humanistic intelligentsia which he calls the intelligentsia of life will become a strong group of influence on both politicians and managers. And it is not the latter, as one thought, in the 1960s and 1970s, but the intelligentsia of life that will have a say in the modern society.