This examination of fundamental educational questions serves as an excellent introduction to the philosophy of education. It includes persuasive arguments for severing the consideration of education from how well it prepares citizens for the marketplace and focusing on what education does for us as human beings. (SLD)

Examines the negative outcomes of the mandatory external primary school-leaving certificate examination administered to Irish sixth-graders, 1943-67. Concludes that the Irish experience should warn American educators of the possible dangers of using minimum competency tests as the sole or primary determinant of decisions concerning grade-to-grade…