Education Economy and Class in Colonial Jamaica 1700-1944

Abstract

<p>This discussion of colonial education in Jamaica proceeds by means of the dialectical method to answer several questions. Why did schooling emerge in Jamaica? Why did it assume its characteristic forms? What social forces acted upon the educational system either as dynamic or conservative influences? The dialectical method, outlined in Chapter One, consists of a sociological account of reality on two levels; conceptually separate yet linked inextricably on the causal plane. Society, as a particular socio-historical conjuncture, has a distinct and palpable existence. Social institutions, such as education, may perform important functions in its maintenance. However, the appearance of social stasis is illusory. Dynamic processes within the social relations of production undermine existing social reality while laying the foundations of future social reality. Education, therefore, is not only static and conservative but also simultaneously dynamic and progressive. Chapter Two surveys literature on education which has been influential in forming the perspective of this work. Chapter Three examines the English educational experience from 1700-1920 whose influence on Jamaican schooling was determined by the relation of dominance and subordination between metropole and satellite. Chapter Four provides a political-economic account of the colonial Jamaican social formation and articulates the dynamics, for example class conflict, propelling social change and hence educational change, in the colonial era. In Chapters Five and Six substantive data concerning the development of schooling in Jamaica is drawn upon to substantiate the various hypotheses entertained in this work.</p>