Niklas Luhmann’s late concept of inclusion/exclusion in world society compensates for the lack of a systems theory of social differentiation, but ultimately remains incomplete. Moreover, it is remarkable that Luhmann apparently never linked the inclusion/exclusion concept to his late theory of the education system. The following considerations seek this missing link, assuming that both functional and social differentiation constitute a double-sided form of societal structuring generated by the polycontextural operation of social closure mechanisms. The term ‘educational closure’ refers to the autopoietic form of inclusion/exclusion processed by an education system internally coupling operational and social closure. The article argues that organised education worldwide operates as an observing system autopoietically generating categorical differences, as well as inequalities between persons. While grouping, sorting, and tracking pupils, the education system seeks to maintain the recursion of educational communication, but also generates unequal social differentiation as a far-reaching side effect. Finally, reconstructing Weber’s theory of social closure as an earlier inclusion/exclusion concept may provide a theoretical basis for further empirical research into the social consequences of educational inclusion/exclusion in a world society.

尼古拉斯·卢曼（Niklas Luhmann）在世界社会中晚期的包容/排斥概念弥补了缺乏社会分化系统理论的不足，但最终仍是不完整的。而且，值得注意的是，卢曼显然没有将包容/排斥的概念与他后来的教育体系理论联系起来。下面的考虑寻求这种缺失的联系，假设功能和社会差异都是社会封闭机制的多语境运作所产生的社会结构的双面形式。术语“教育封闭”是指由教育系统内部将运营和社会封闭耦合在一起的过程的包容/排斥的自生形式。文章认为，世界范围内的有组织的教育是一种观察系统，自动产生分类差异以及人与人之间的不平等。在对学生进行分组，分类和跟踪时，教育系统寻求维持教育交流的递归，但也会产生不平等的社会分化，这是深远的副作用。最后，将韦伯的社会封闭理论重构为较早的包容/排斥概念，可以为进一步实证研究世界社会教育包容/排斥的社会后果提供理论基础。但也会产生不平等的社会分化，这是深远的副作用。最后，将韦伯的社会封闭理论重构为一个较早的包含/排除概念，可以为进一步研究世界上教育包含/排除的社会后果提供理论基础。但也会产生不平等的社会分化，这是深远的副作用。最后，将韦伯的社会封闭理论重构为较早的包容/排斥概念，可以为进一步实证研究世界社会教育包容/排斥的社会后果提供理论基础。