Comprehension Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

It is an old saying that knowledge is power. Education is an instrument that imparts knowledge and, therefore indirectly controls power. Therefore, ever since the dawn of civilization, persons in power have always tried to control education. It has been the hand-maid of the ruling class. During the Christian era, the ecclesiastics controlled the institution of education and diffused among the people the gospel of the bible. These gospels were no other than a philosophy for the maintenance of the existing society. This Religious education taught the poor man to be meek and to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow, while the priests and the landlords lived in luxury and fought duels for the slightest offense.

During the Renaissance, education passed more from the clutches of the priest into the hand of the prince. In other words, it became more secular. It was also due to the growth of the nation-state and powerful monarchs who united the country under their rule. Thus, under the control of the monarch, education began to devise and preach the infallibility of its masters. It also invented and supported fantastic theories like the Divine Right Theory and that the king can do no wrong etc.

With the advent of the industrial revolution, education took a different tum and had to please the new masters. It now no longer remained the privilege of the baron class but was thrown open to the newly rich merchant class of society. Yet education was still confined to the few elite. The philosophy which was in vogue during this period was that of ‘Laissez Faire’ restricting the function of the State to a mere keeping of law and order while, on the other hand, in practice, the law of the jungle prevailed in the form of free competition and the survival of the fittest.