Non-formal education and the structure of culture

It gives a developmental or exploratory approach. The most common approach to an international or to a cross-cultural intervention in education is characterized by the transfer of capital and the transfer of technology. This paper contrasts this type of strategy with a different approach to the intervention into the affairs of another nation, state, or cultural area. The transfer strategy can be viewed as a technical assistance or institution building approach; the contrasting strategy is the exploration and discovery approach. With this approach, instead of assuming that a developed country has something which would be of benefit to the other, it is assumed that the other society already has similar basic institutions. Although the other society is less developed, the function of education is carried on there as well. In the basic exploration and discovery approach, it is assumed that fundamental functions are carried out in all social systems and that each nation has some kind of existing system of these functions. The first step of educational assistance is to analyze the indigenous means which are used for education.