What Should Education Look Like? | Ivan Illich on Education
Ivan Illich’s first influential work was Deschooling Society, which he published in 1971. In this work, among other things, Illich argued that the institutionalization fostered by the educational system has led to the general institutionalization of society, and that if we could de-institutionalize education, that this would help to de-institutionalize society.
The first quote we’re going to consider comes from this work and, in many ways, summarizes it:
“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.”
– Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
As has been pointed out many times, and by a variety of writers, the modern educational system is largely the product of the Industrial Revolution, when there was a need for a workforce that was conformist, rigid, and specialized. The educational system was designed to produce workers who would be cogs in the industrial machine.
Given the nature of our educational system, it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that humans have learned to view ourselves in machine terms. This is a rabbit hole that goes very deep (and we will continue to go down it!) It is sufficient for now to note that one of the reasons that it is so difficult to discern the ways in which we have been taught to act and think according to this mechanistic anthropology is that from our earliest days, we have been educated to accept this view of the world, and of ourselves, as true.
Ivan Illich did not hold out any hope for a reformation of the current educational system, and advocated for it to be dismantled and replaced:
“Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue’s responsibility until it engulfs his pupils’ lifetimes will deliver universal education. The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring.”
– Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
Rather than a top-down educational model, Illich advocates for a system where humans are empowered to find out what is inside of them, and to connect with other people who are inspired by the same things. Education in this sense would become a community effort, where the individual gifts of each unique person are discerned, cultivated, and celebrated.
Whether or not Illich’s proposed solution is realistic and attainable, his diagnosis of the problem is at least worthy of consideration. No part of human life has been unaffected by the Industrial Revolution, and while humans are largely materially more comfortable as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the verdict is still out as to whether or not we are actually more happy, content, and fulfilled in the new world into which we were born.
I do not have a specific agenda, nor am I proposing some ideological solution with You Are Not A Machine. My goal is simply to encourage people to critically reflect on the world that we live in, and to ask the question: In what ways does modern life contribute to human flourishing, and in what ways does modern life diminish human flourishing?
In order to answer this question of course, one must understand what human flourishing looks like. And this, in turn, requires that one understand what it means to be a human in the first place. These are questions that we will continue to address together as we go further down the rabbit hole.
OK…that’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed this first foray into the work of Ivan Illich…as always, stay tuned for more by downloading The How Did We Get Here? Reading List…and I will see you soon!