Now showing: Elitism and participation
Elitism and participation
Arnold was a poet, Oxford don, literary critic, and educational reformer. I have a love-hate attitude to him.
On one hand, his zeal to create a secondary education system which opened up learning to an ever wider group of citizens was admirable and had a significant impact on the development of the UK's secondary education system at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries.
On the other, one of the reasons he was so zealous was that he foresaw a culture industry catering to the masses, which he viewed as less valuable and less worthy than the rarified realms of poetry that he saw as the pinnacle of cultural achievement.
He was right on both accounts.. however if I don't appreciate poetry, surely I can nevertheless stake a claim to cultural value elsewhere? I love him for his foresight and commitment, but I reject his elitism.
Tags: anarchy culture education elitism media-participation poetry