Culture is doubly related to education. Firstly, education is itself a part of culture. Secondly, the function of education is usually seen, at least in part, as being to pass the cultural tradition on to succeeding generations, or, more patronisingly, to give the students some culture.

In these times of education for utility, the cultural function is unfashionable. Our politicians are more concerned to blame schools for failing to prepare students for jobs than they are to criticise their own teachers for having failed to produce a generation of caring adults. Yet unemployment is more a symptom of cultural collapse than it is a product of education failure.