John White's study is the most substantial work on what the aims of education should be since Whitehead's Aims of Education of 1929. It draws on material not only from schools and colleges, but also from the broader educative or miseducative nature of the 'ethos' of society and some of its major institutions. Sifting the different views about aims which are now prevalent and circulating in the world of education, he integrates the more defensible of them into an articulated set of positive recommendations. The study takes a broadly philosophical and non-technical stand; it is written to help practitioners orient themselves in what is often bewildering territory, at a time when the question of what the aims of education ought to be has acquired a new urgency for politicians and educational administrators, as well as for those directly involved in educational institutions, head teachers and their staff.

1. Introduction 2. Intrinsic Aims 3. The Good of the Pupil 4. The Good of Society (1):Economic, Moral and Pupil-centred Aims 5. The Good of Society (2): Moral Aims in their Economic and Political Aspects 6.The Educated Man 7. The Realisation of Aims