Half formation

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Half-education was a contemptuous term used by the educated bourgeoisie since the end of the 19th century to refer to the level of education of upstarts from the lower classes of the bourgeoisie . The term was treated in depth by Theodor W. Adorno in particular . According to Adorno, “half-education” is described as incomplete, superficial education , depending on the perspective of the person making the judgment , as this is only acquired as an end in itself or for adaptation.

Origin of the modern concept of education

The definition of education, which continues to this day, was established in the context of the modern Enlightenment, the invention of anthropology as a science and doctrine of people and with the emancipation of the bourgeoisie. It is characterized by the "discovery" of a personal class independent of origins and wealth, in which the person does not see himself as a function of a traditional class but as a person. In the German neo-humanism around 1800 ( Schiller , W. v. Humboldt , Dt. Idealismus ) the term unfolds completely, in that education is to be understood as the only alternative from the self-created degrading conditions, as which is the dehumanizing mechanization of the working and living world is understood. In this perspective, education is an end in itself and should allow people to reach their destiny, and therefore be self-education.

In order to enable people to do this, according to humanistic ideas, language education, historical knowledge and an understanding of art are required. The real element of education is conviviality , especially conversation as open, mutual stimulation. Because in conversations like this, people recognize themselves in the mirror of the other as a value in themselves, reinvent themselves again and again and take part in processes of the construction of social and political worlds, which can not least have an impact on the higher education of the human race.

Flattening of the concept of education

Already in the 19th century it became clear that the humanistic educational thinking, detached from its theoretical references, led to associations and reversals. Education soon marked an accumulation of knowledge that blocked important new areas such as economy, technology and politics and criticized the assumed cultural low of education from an externalized humanistic educational norm. Education in this sense is no longer self-sufficient, but rather musical and literary education, which enables the educated to have a say in everything that is not specific, and is therefore nothing more than unspecific knowledge about history, literature, art and philosophy. Such half-education is especially proverbial if it is composed only of lists of quotations (see also: Winged word ) or knowledge of crossword puzzles .

Half-education from a humanistic perspective

The criticism of education in the petrified form of half-education ( Theodor W. Adorno ) is therefore dependent on the respective concept of education. From the perspective of a humanistic ideal of education, the accusation of half-education is polemically directed against the descendants of the petty bourgeoisie and the working class, who are increasingly emerging through the natural and engineering sciences . This accusation is aimed at utilitarian forms of knowledge that are cut off from the incomplete process of self-education and serve as a mere educational asset for the structural and functional safeguarding of the socio-economic status of the so-called educated citizen.

Half-education among the educated

Sometimes the criticism of the bourgeois educational ideal is directed against aspects of the educated bourgeoisie itself. This criticism takes up approaches of the original educational concept by stating that education and culture have a dual character: on the one hand, intellectual culture and, on the other, culture as a real way of life. According to this view, half-formation arises when this dual character is lost. Education cannot then be separated from the organization of human affairs. Education which refrains from it, posits itself and makes it absolute, has already become half-education, namely intellectual culture as an end in itself.

Education understood in this way degenerates into an attitude , a mere figurehead of social belonging. The mere fetish-like collecting of “highlights” of intellectual knowledge replaces the penetrating understanding based on a concrete, objectively motivated interest in survival. In an education that is limited to “culture that shapes real life”, the moment of adaptation is emphasized on one side , and therefore only half-education is achieved.

Education as a form of half-education?

What became of education and what is now sedimented as a kind of negative, objective spirit, by no means just in Germany, would itself be derived from social laws of movement, even from the concept of education. It has become a socialized half-education, the omnipresence of the alienated spirit. According to Genesis and Meaning, it does not precede education, but follows it.

Strictly speaking, the critique of education as half -education presupposes the neo-humanist concept of education in its socio-critical function, from the point of view of which an education that does not correspond to it can be assessed as inadequate insofar as, for example, a citizen who considers himself educated only uses his acquired educational knowledge Securing of his socio-economic status on the labor market and in social relations needed. Taken into use in this way, the process of self-formation, which in principle cannot be completed, coagulates with a dual function: on the one hand, in the function of intellectual culture (Adorno 1972, p. 94) in increasingly sharp contrast to practice (Adorno 1972, p. 94), on the other hand, one-sided (as) the moment of adaptation (Adorno 1972, p. 95) with the intention of (seducing; author) people to grind off one another (Adorno 1972, p. 95).

A semi-educated person has acquired the same knowledge that an educated person has, but he uses his knowledge in a reified , domesticated way, e.g. B. by classifying and subsuming phenomena in a purely mechanical manner, instead of understanding and appropriating their vitality. Because of this rigidity, the semi-educated is even inferior to the uneducated, because the latter may not have the technical background knowledge, but the natural, unbiased view and is free from any narcissism. Uneducation, as mere naivety, mere ignorance, permitted a direct relationship to the objects and could be heightened to critical consciousness by virtue of its potential for skepticism, wit and irony - qualities that thrive in the not entirely domesticated. The half-education does not want to succeed. (Adorno 1972, p. 104f.) The semi-educated person has lost this naive impartiality through his reified understanding of knowledge as mere facticity in the course of his educational process. In his analysis, Adorno understands the phenomenon of the increasing spread of semi-education in modern society as the "omnipresence of the alienated mind" (Adorno 1972, p. 93).

Half-education marketed as education today

Based on Adorno's theory, Konrad Paul Liessmann has written a work on semi-education and uneducation in today's world, Theory of Uneducation . He believes that education will be reduced to information that can be used, and that associative thinking is no longer required, but only fragments of information are required. He describes the following phenomena in his book:

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Television shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and board games like Trivial Pursuit , in which candidates are asked knowledge questions from a wide variety of areas. The extraordinary public success of such formats is based on the fact that knowledge is queried, with which every viewer would theoretically have a chance of reaching the top prize ranks if they were sitting on the candidate chair. “Knowledge” about gossip is rewarded in the same way as general knowledge.

Education on the World Wide Web

The increasing use of the WWW in obtaining information remains to be observed . There are no editorial and carefully prepared pages on the Internet for many topics, so that one is forced to compare a large number of sources in order to be able to verify the data obtained. Depending on the popularity of the information sought, this sometimes requires a lot of time and experience in dealing with search engines and in dealing critically with information sources . In the Internet, incorrect information can simply be generated and also disseminated, so that it appears plausible, since it is not possible to distinguish at first glance whether two writers independently came to the same result or one only copied from the other.

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: half-formation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor W. Adorno: Theory of half-education (1959). In: Th. W. Adorno: Gesammelte Schriften , Volume 8: Sociological Writings 1 . Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1972, pp. 93-121.
  2. ↑ Ibid., P. 93.