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Learning to Be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow by Edgar FaureReview by: Douglas S. WardThe Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Oct., 1973), pp. 104-105Published by: College of Business, Tennessee State UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4190097 .

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Book Reviews

RONALD E. NELSON

LEARNING TO BE: THE WORLD OF EDUCATION TODAY ANDTOMORROW. By Edgar Faure et al. Paris: UNESCO, and London:Harrap, 1972. Pp. xxxix + 313, $6.00.This volume is the first report of the UNESCO Commission on theDevelopment of Education, appointed in 1971 and chaired by Edgar Faure,

former French prime minister and minister of education. Other membersof the commission are Felipe Herrera (Chile), Abdul-Razzak Kaddoura(Syrian Arab Republic), Henri Lopes (People's Republic of the Congo),Arthur Vladimirovitch Petrovski (U.S.S.R.), Majid Rahnema (Iran), andFrederick Champion Ward (United States). The members of the commis-sion appear as authors; in addition, a secretariat of seven staff membersof UNESCO, headed by Aser Deleon, and numerous outside consultantscontributed to this significant work. Extracts from the 81 documents listedin the appendix are to be published in a second volume of the commission'sreport.The commission was directed upon its appointment "to assist govern-ments to formulate national strategies for the development of education."The present report includes a section on "the heritage of the past" andcurrent characteristics of schools throughout the world, with the notableexclusion of the People's Republic of China. Characteristics of the kindsof education which the authors believe to be called for by contemporaryworld realities are competently developed. A concluding section is entitled"Towards a Learning Society." The significant innovations recommendedtake the form of 21 principles to guide those developed and developingnations willing to undertake major school reforms, which the report holdswould require "indispensable remoulding of education [to include] all itselements-theory and practice, structures and methods, management andorganization ... from one and the same point of view" (p. 233).Prescriptions for procedures leading to the kinds of goals the reportelaborates, for the most part brilliantly, are something of a letdown follow-ing the exhaustive array of varied data inputs (from principally non-U.S.

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Book Reviews 105

sources) and carefully argued rationales. National educational leaders areurged to have "a broad vision of the future . . . as a defined aim" (p. 169)and to strive for "internal reform and continual improvement of existingeducational systems" (p. 177). Their scope should encompass "all countriesat all development levels . . . [but with] special consideration to develop-ing countries" (p. 235). An excellent, although short section on internationaltechnical assistance recommends that aid to education "can and must beincreased." It adds that bilateral aid "should not be discouraged," but bereduced to a level below that of multilateral aid (which would need to beincreased fourfold to meet even present levels). The United States ispointed out as an aid laggard; although its GNP represents half the totalof the DAC countries, it contributed only 0.55 percent thereof in 1968.(The U.N. recommendation has been that 1 percent of GNP go fromdeveloped to developing nations.) The report distinguishes capitalist andsocialist nations and refers to commission member A. V. Petrovski's viewthat "developed countries [but not socialist countries] derived enormousprofits during the colonial period from exploiting . . . the developing coun-tries" (p. 257).The conclusion of the report recommends the establishment of an "in-ternational programme for education innovations" to serve as the mechan-ism through which individual nations, acting in some measure of interna-tional cooperation, would undertake the proposed revolutionary changesin education. Among its recommendations are lifelong education, dispensedand acquired through a multiplicity of means in a flexible framework;abolition of barriers between different educational disciplines and betweenformal and nonformal education; preschool and infant nutrition programs;indivridualizededucation; and active involvement of teachers and studentsin the planning and management of educational programs. Perhaps itsmost imaginative proposal is for "equal chance of success" in place ofmere equal access to education (p. 72).The volume is obviously the work of numerous authors and incorporateswidely diverse views, which produced formidable problems of organiza-tion and editing. For the most part this mammoth task has been creditablyaccomplished, but numerous omissions of sources for facts cited and a fewmisleading or inaccurate graphics occur throughout the volume. The educa-tional statistics contained in 20 pages of appendixes support the dolefulreport that illiteracy is increasing in the world, although the adult illiteracyrate of 44 percent in 1950 is projected to decrease to 29 percent in 1980."Even the most optimistic of assumptions is not going to drop the numberof illiterates (adults) below the 650 million mark by the year 2000" (p.298).The present volume is invaluable for any serious study of developmentproblems. It should be available in public libraries throughout the world,for it presents in one economical source a wealth of responsible opinionand significant data concerning present realities and future needs of educa-tion throughout the world.

DOUGLAS S. WARDNorthwestern University

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