Nation-building by education statistics and data

Abstract

Survey-generated data and numbers displayed in statistics play a relevant role in nation-building. They do not simply reflect logical or nationally relevant knowledge related to the topic of the survey but are used for educational policy decisions and political governance and follow specific cultural concepts and categories, containing ideologies of social order accordingly. The Swiss example illustrates the importance attached to the “hard facts” during the planning phase of school reforms. The French case shows that the means of getting a statistical picture of the state of French primary education represented an important political gesture to create national awareness and mobilization in support of primary education. The Scottish educational statistics from the 1820s and 1830s show how education not only was used as an identifying feature for the Scottish nation, but also involved the danger of putting this nation at risk. Overall, the chapter illustrates how differently and context-dependently numbers and surveys were used to approach the common goal of strengthening national identity through schooling.