The Tory Mind on Education

1979-1994

D Lawton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136669750
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

This book discusses conservative education policies since 1979 by referring to beliefs, values and attitudes. It relates ideology to policies and provides some background about the years before 1979 – definitions of Conservatism and descriptions of Tory beliefs and traditional Conservative views on education. The second part of the book provides a brief outline of the years between the 1944 Education Act and 1979.

Part I

Background

The first part of this book is intended to provide some background about the years before 1979.

Chapter 1 puts forward some definitions of Conservativism and descriptions of Tory beliefs — mainly by self-confessed Conservatives. The second section of the chapter goes on to describe traditional Conservative views on education.

Chapter 2 provides a brief outline of the years between the 1944 Education Act and 1979 when our detailed account will begin. Part of that story is the move from post-war cooperation in 1944 to the gradual breakdown of consensus in the 1960s and 1970s.

Chapter 1

Conservatism and Conservative Views
on Education

In a progressive country change is constant; and the question is not whether you should resist change which is inevitable but whether that change should be carried out in deference to the manners, the customs, the laws, and the traditions of a people, or whether it should be carried out in deference to abstract principles, and arbitrary and general doctrines. (Disraeli's Edinburgh Speech, 1867)

Disraeli had believed that conservatism and democracy were natural allies and with marked political skill had put that belief into successful political effect. Salisbury, in whose temperament fear predominated over hope, took the opposite view. (Quinton, 1978, p. 87)

We are often told that conservatism is essentially ideology-free and that the Conservative Party is a common-sense party, which is pragmatic rather than philosophical. We should not take that defence too seriously. It often means no more than a preference for the status quo, which is just as much an ideological position as is a desire to change or reform institutions. The Conservative tends to look back to a golden age (‘a better yesterday’) whereas left-wing politicians look forward to a better future. Conservatives tend to condemn the latter as utopianism, whilst describing their own reluctance to embrace idealistic visions as pragmatism or common sense.

The Traditional Tory Mind

It may be helpful to begin by looking at some of those Conservatives who have been prepared to discuss conservative philosophy in ideological terms. Roger Scruton, a well-known English right-wing polemicist, prefers to avoid talking of conservative philosophy, describing his book The Meaning of Conservatism (1980) as dogmatics or a defence of a system of beliefs. Another apologist for conservatism, the American, Robert Nisbet (1986) also uses the term dogmatics. Scruton and Nisbet share a basic conservative belief that society has developed gradually over many generations, with a number of institutions acquiring useful functions. They suggest that so delicate is the balance of interests that has grown up over the years that it is extremely dangerous to try to change institutions. The more radical the change, the greater the risk. In this respect conservatism in politics has much in common with functionalism in sociology: society is an organic whole; change is always hazardous.

Later I shall have to return to Scruton, who has done much to define conservatism, not only in his books, but also as a leading member of the Conservative Philosophy Group (CPG). (Mrs Thatcher was a frequent attender of CPG meetings in its heyday.) Scruton has also written about conservative views on education to which I shall return in section 2. But first I want to go back to earlier centuries in order to see what motivated others who have been labelled, or who have labelled themselves, conservative. It will also be necessary to make a distinction between conservatism and the activities, even official policies, of the Conservative Party. It is usually accepted that the first requirement of a political party is to win the next election and for that doctrinal sacrifices may have to be made. But it is useful to spell out orthodoxy before considering deviations or heresies.

Edmund Burke (1729–97) is often quoted as an originator of much conservative thought, although he was, in the language of his day, a Whig rather than a Tory. (The word ‘conservative’ was not applied to political groups until about 1830.) Burke's Reflections on the Recent Revolution in France (1790) is still regarded as a classic expression of some basic conservative political values. In condemning the French Revolution, Burke explained why not only revolution but also radical reform is evil. He saw social continuity as essential for a society if the delicate balance of freedom and order were to be preserved; in advocating freedom, however, he was not preaching ‘individualism’ (a liberal doctrine) — human beings are essentially social animals and the customs of groups, including nations, must be revered. One of the social customs to be so respected was private property, which Burke and others have seen as a great force for order and stability.

Burke was particularly contemptuous of the abstract notion of ‘natural rights’ which had led the revolutionaries in France on to dangerous egalitarian (democratic) ideas about levelling out social class differences and eliminating privilege. He was equally contemptuous of the belief that Rousseau and his followers placed in the supremacy of human reason. Burke's view was that human beings were fallible and that the individual's ‘Private stock of reason’ was in constant need of guidance and restraint which would be provided from ‘the general bank and capital of nations and ages’; naked reason had to be supplemented by authority and ‘prejudice’ (in the sense of preconceived social conventions which might or might not appear to be rational). Burke also believed that human beings were naturally religious and needed religion in order to avoid the calamitous mistakes typified by the French Revolution. For Burke the aristocracy embodied the ‘Divine Will’ as well as reason; to revolt against the aristocracy was blasphemous as well as ignorant and irrational.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) is often credited with setting out, a generation later, some of the policy guidelines of the Conservative Party. Robert Blake's book The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher (1985) acknowledges the claim that Disraeli was the founder of modern Conservatism, not only from the point of view of Party organization, but also in terms of ideas. ‘It cannot be wholly accidental or erroneous that so many modern Conservatives look back on Disraeli as their prophet, high priest and philosopher rolled into one’ (Blake, 1985, p. 3). Blake also makes a distinction between the ideologists of conservatism (like Burke) and of Toryism (like Coleridge): Conservatives defend the existing order; Tories, more romantically, ‘look behind the institutions of their own generation to the spirit of the nation which gave them life’ (p. 6). Later it will be clear that some aspects of Toryism are still alive in the Party, but generally I will use Tory and Conservative as synonyms. There is one important aspect of the Tory Mind which I will not attempt to deal with — the religious strand which was originally very important but by 1979 had ceased to be significant. It was no longer sensible to refer to the Church of England as the Conservative Party at prayer, although some Conservative politicians (including Margaret Thatcher) occasionally exploited the link. But more frequently she found herself embarrassed by a Church of England with ‘socialist’ ideas about compassion for the poor.

Disraeli was not only a successful politician but also a novelist. In both roles he contributed to conservative thinking: his ‘One Nation’ rhetoric was a partly successful attempt to gain working-class votes by stressing the identity of interests of different groups in society despite differences in wealth, income and life-style. Quinton (1978) in his classic text on conservatism suggests that Disraeli's main contribution to political theory was his short treatise Vindication of the English Constitution (1835), which Quinton clearly does not rate very highly as a defence of tradition against utilitarian rationalism. Disraeli praises the English constitution as a product of countless generations’ experience. In his practical politics he was, however, by no means a rigid adherent to traditions: for example, he saw the need for government intervention in such matters as factory legislation (to make conditions more like those he believed to exist between agricultural workers and their gentlemen masters). Such legislation has been seen as a step towards the welfare state.

Blake (1985) stresses the continuity of conservative attitudes from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth:

The person who was a conservative … in Peel's day, his outlook, prejudices and passions, would have been quite recognisable to his counterpart who voted for Winston Churchill in the 1950s. There was a similar belief that Britain, especially England, was usually in the right. There was a similar faith in the value of diversity, of independent institutions, of the rights of property; a similar distrust of centralising officialdom, of the efficacy of government (except in the preservation of order and national defence), of Utopian panaceas and of ‘doctrinaire’ intellectuals; a similar dislike of abstract ideas, high philosophical principles and sweeping generalisations … A similar scepticism about human nature; a similar belief in original sin, and in the limitations of political and social amelioration; a similar scepticism about the notion of equality, (p. 359)

This may seem to be a curious list of qualities — unless we remember that Blake intended them as a mixture of ‘outlook, prejudices and passions’. Even so, it is not entirely satisfactory, but will serve as a beginning.

Scruton's summary of conservative beliefs takes us a little further. It is spelt out in two books (1980, 1982) as well as in various issues of the Salisbury Review. Scruton (1982) talks of three aspects of conservatism: an attitude to society, an ideal of government and a political practice, all three of which are informed by, but not reducible to, scepticism. Conservatives should be sceptical particularly towards proposals for radical change, utopian theories, and liberal and socialist doctrines of human nature. Blake's list of attitudes, as well as Nisbet's suggestions, may be regrouped under Scruton's three headings (albeit with much overlap). I will try to summarize these views without distortion:

1 Attitude to society

1.1 A belief that Britain is usually in the right. This is more than crude patriotism, although at its worst it may become xenophobic; ideally it is a justifiable pride in national character. Baldwin (1938), for example, said? have always firmly held that there is no race with more ability latent than our own, or with a higher aptitude for mechanical genius’ (p. 157). Churchill, and others, have believed that Britain was ‘chosen’ as a civilizing influence on the world.

1.2 A preference for diversity rather than uniformity or equality. This includes respect for rank (usually including the monarchy) and although there is a recent tendency to deny the existence of class, conservatives tend to be very class conscious — a characteristic which may border on snobbishness. This kind of ‘pluralism’ may involve segregation, partly because liberty is more important than equality. (We will see that this attachment to class is connected with conservative views on selection in education.)

1.3 Conservatives value independent institutions (rather than centralized controlling structures). An important function of society is to restrain man's passions and preserve order: for this purpose society must have authority and power, but power is better if widely distributed. We shall see that on this factor, some traditional Conservatives were disturbed at Margaret Thatcher's ‘strong state’ becoming too centralized.

2 Ideal of government

2.1 One main function of government is to preserve the status quo as far as possible. Falkland in the seventeenth century said ‘When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.’ This precept has often been repeated in more recent years. There is a distrust of centralized officials who may be tempted to make changes in the name of efficiency. Limited, but not minimal, government is preferred, the priorities being law and order, and national defence.

2.2 A major function of government is the preservation of properly rights: property is more important than persons (although Baldwin sometimes doubted this). Taxation is a necessary evil but should be kept to a minimum and not used to redistribute wealth or property.

2.3 Tradition is preferable to contract, including the unnecessary contract of a written constitution. Tradition has a super-rational quality: tradere meant handing on something sacred. Looking back is better than trying to look forward: history is an account of decline not of progress (which was the Whig interpretation of history). An important Tory tradition was that rank and wealth were privileges which should be accompanied by responsibilities and duties — Baldwin was insistent on this.

3 Political practice

3.1 Political practice is guided not only by scepticism (of Liberal or socialist abstract ideals), but by pragmatism. There is a dislike of theories, or utopian planning, of abstract ideas and generalizations, and of intellectuals. It is worth noting Lord Salisbury's comment about Iain Macleod — ‘too clever by half. And Baldwin was not alone in thinking that ‘intelligentsia was a very ugly name for a very ugly thing’. The Conservative Party is the Party of common sense: ‘The British people have always been sceptical of starryeyed idealists, and with good reason’ (Francis Pym, 1984).

3.2 The dislike of utopian ideas is connected with a pessimistic view of human nature, sometimes taking the form of a belief in original sin or natural evil (Hobbes).

3.3 Prejudices (in the Edmund Burke sense of preconceptions) are ‘natural’; even Conservative intellectuals like Oakeshott were suspicious of rationalism or a belief in total rationality. One interesting preconception is social class (which is, of course, an important factor in educational opportunity): Dennis Kavanagh (1987) tells us that in I960 Macmillan wrote to a party official: ‘Who are the middle classes? What do they want? How can we give it to them?’ Many Conservatives, including Margaret Thatcher deny the existence of class whilst retaining a prejudice against lower-class behaviour: for example, Alan Clark (1993) betrayed his obsession with class when he said that his driver was typical of his class in losing his nerve so quickly when faced with difficulties; or, in a very different category, when he quoted with approval Jopling's criticism of Heseltine as one who ‘had to buy all his own furniture’ (p. 162). Clark was so obsessed with the idea of class that he agreed with those in the Conservative Party who believed that Margaret Thatcher was so good that she could not possibly have been a grocer's daughter, and built up a myth about her noble parentage.

An interesting insight into the British class structure occurs in Churchill and Mitchell (1974) which is a collection of Lady Randolph Churchill's correspondence. One chapter is about a famous divorce case involving Blandford, the future Duke of Marlborough.

It is very difficult for us, a hundred years later, with divorce made easier year by year, to understand the horror its very mention sent through the upper classes in the 1870s. An anonymous French diplomat wrote that the dominating idea of English society was not the cultivation of virtue, but the prevention of scandal, and he explained it as due to the extreme sensitiveness of the ladies and gentlemen prominent in London society to the public opinion of their inferiors’. But why were they so sensitive? Surely because they were fully aware that they belonged to an incredibly privileged class, and ever since the French Revolution privileged classes had looked anxiously over their shoulders. The only justification for their privileges was that they did, and were seen to do, their social duty; and that was to lead the nation not only politically but morally. Unfortunately, official Victorian morality, established by the Queen herself, and followed, at least in theory, by the respectable middle class, bore no relation whatever to upper class practice. Hence hypocrisy and cant now seem to be the chief characteristics of the period, (pp. 86–7)

This attempt to review traditional conservative attitudes and beliefs may be straining Scruton's framework too much. I must take the blame for that. For an alternative overview Quinton (1978) has a neater, more elegant classification of conservative principles (all of which, he claims, are derived from a basic belief in man's intellectual imperfection — which Quinton traces back to writers much earlier than Burke). The three principles are: traditionalism, organicism and scepticism. Traditionalism is expressed as reverence for established customs and institutions (and a corresponding hostility to sudden, precipitate change). Organicism takes a society to be:

a unitary, natural growth, an organised, living whole, not a mechanical aggregate. It is not composed of bare abstract individuals but of social beings, related to one another within a texture of inherited customs and institutions which endow them with their specific social nature. The institutions of society are thus not external, disposable devices, of interest to men only by reason of the individual purposes they serve; they are, rather, constitutive of the social identity of men. (Quinton, 1978, p. 16)

Scepticism is the belief that political wisdom is to be found not in the theoretical speculations of isolated thinkers, but ‘in the historically accumulated experience of the community as a whole … in the deposit of traditional customs and institutions’ (p. 17).

What all Conservatives have in common is a tendency to look back rather than forward for their social inspiration. Yesterday is likely to be better than the vision of tomorrow. They are concerned to preserve as much of the status quo as possible: change will probably — directly or indirectly — in...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Preface
• PART I Background
• PART II The Ideological Years 1979–94
• PART III The Future
• PART IV Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index