On how the absence of one pedagogical trend in the discourse leads to misinterpretations of it... and more on the 'backwardness' in the development of Polish pedagogy

Summary:The article is a polemic, an attempt to make some necessary corrections required by a reading of the text by Tomasz Szkudlarek "Instrumentalizm a autonomia edukacji" [Instrumentalism and the autonomy of education] (Szkudlarek, 2023). It contains interpretations (criticism) of the issue of educational equality in conservative pedagogy - the author does so on the basis of the article „Edukacja, która ocala i tworzy: pozostał już tylko awangardowy konserwatyzm?” [Education, that saves and creates: is only avant-garde conservatism left?"] (Kostkiewicz, 2022). The texts represent two opposing pedagogical currents: critical pedagogy (neo-Marxist) and conservative pedagogy in the Catholic tradition.