CRISIS‐CENTRED, ISSUE‐BASED: THE LONELINESS OF DISTANCE LEARNING

From the Board Schools of the 1870s to the Polys of the 1960s, the structure of formal education in Britain has grown ever more elaborate. Now at every level it is under the greatest financial pressure. Yet never has so high a proportion of adults needed to learn — in many cases to learn quickly — in face of technological obsolescence, bureaucratic encroachment or complex environmental dilemmas. People learn when they have to, Boyle argues: and he examines areas where broadcasting and libraries would appear to be operating side by side.