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This idea was extended by some to include apprenticeships in government polytechnic schools where the joiner would learn about the theory and practice of carpentry and the shoemaker about his last.52 To the technical educationists who believed in the importance of theory, it had less validity. They wanted to codify this industrial knowledge and wondered how it could be imparted and to what extent it should be delivered to the general population.
The Great Exhibition was an enormous success, allowing for an uncritical celebration of English technical achievement. It elevated all things industrial to the forefront of national thinking, despite the resistance of sections of the community. Some observers have suggested that it was the only convenient point from which the history of modern industry can truly be judged.53 To most contemporary Englishmen, the exhibition had a more immediate significance. It affirmed that their country was still preeminent at the head of the industrial world. The prediction of imminent collapse by Playfair and his colleagues appeared to be unfounded. Hence, the campaign by the technical educationists was difficult to justify. They also struggled to implement their ideas because the scale of the cultural and social reform required was immense. This was unlikely in a nation that had continuously demonstrated an unwillingness to accept radical change.
The problems associated with defining technical education did not help their undertaking. They also suffered because the main protagonists lacked a common identity. The only thing this disparate group of individuals shared was their opinion on technical education, which ran counter to accepted wisdom. They did not have a uniform set of principles and objectives.