Education and open society
Reflecting the relation between the "open society" (K. Popper) and education, in this paper the author claims that openness of a society correlates positively with the domination of "acquired" social position over "ascribed" social positions and with education as the main channel of vertical social mobility. Pointing out that no society has reached the ideal of equal start chances for everybody, i.e. that social competition can be described in the best was as a "competition of the unequal", the author claims that good education is a strategic goal of every "good society" (J. K. Galbraith), which means that investments in education is the best proof that in a society long-term goals are more important that short-term ones. Education does not have exclusively economic meaning, but a political and social role as well. As a barrier to extremism, good education makes democracy possible, even inevitable. Furthermore, education makes views of the people wider, helping them to enjoy its social-cultural heritage and values, both inside a society and on a global world level. In spite of its individual and social importance, it can be said that education today does not have an adequate state support for its development. This policy is not a correct one, because education and open society, if they are not synonyms, surely are closely and deeply linked and mutually dependent: there is no real education without open society, and there is no really open society without good education.