Reactions of an Educational Psychologist to the Worth Report

My object, in this paper, is to comment on the Worth Report proposals that appear to fly in the face of evidence from psychological research and theory. There is a great deal in the Report which is stimulating, though often marred by overoptimistic idealism, and by rather vague verbiage and silly or loaded pictorial illustrations. There is a great deal that I know too little about to have anything worthwhile to say. And probably, like most readers, I react strongly against some proposals thatappear to threaten my own status, values, and my own approach to teaching. I have tried to avoid all these topics, except the first, in what follows.