Gandhi and Mao on manual labour in the school: A retrospective analysis.

Autor/inn/en	Zachariah, Mathew; Hoffman, Arlene
Titel	Gandhi and Mao on manual labour in the school: A retrospective analysis.
Quelle	In: International review of education, (1985) 1, S.265-282Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0020-8566
DOI	10.1007/BF02262582
Schlagwörter	Avant; Manual Labour; Cultural Root; Power Base; Require Manual
Abstract	Abstract Mahatma Gandhi's views on relating the world of formal education to the world of work were developed first in his experimental ‘Tolstoy Farm’ in South Africa. On his return to India, Gandhi insisted that a required manual labour component in the curriculum would help regenerate India's village economy, develop in India's children a deeper understanding of India's cultural roots, motivate children to relate ‘book learning’ to life in society, and destroy invidious caste distinctions. The major proposals and suggestions in Gandhi's writing will be discussed in the context of his hopes for using schooling as an agent of progress in India. Mao Ze-Dong's views, on the other hand, were developed in the context of his Yenan experience in the 1930s, i.e. the decision to consolidate a power base in the interior of China before waging a class war against the landlords and capitalists of China. Mao's views were also, to some extent, rooted in the Chinese reality of stagnant, poverty-stricken rural areas. But, Mao's writings indicate that Marxist hopes to relate theory and practice (as understood in dialectical materialism) and to ensure that everyone participated in mental as well as manual labour in a socialist society had led him to formulate his proposals. Both Gandhi's and Mao's views and proposals have been more or less abandoned in India and China respectively. The similar and dissimilar reasons which led to such a fate are examined in this retrospective analysis.
Erfasst von	OLC
Update	2023/2/05