DE SCHOOLING

in chapter 1 as institutionalization in not only education but also the

other institutions such as hospitals, welfare institutions, police and so
on. As people depend on the institutionalized society, they become
more dependent on its supposed value and start recognizing
independent learning as irresponsible and unpredictable.

In chapter two Ivan llich delves into the reasons why society needs to
be rid of schools. He begins by saying that the term “school” no longer
holds any meaning and he goes into a lengthy definition of what he
believes the term “school” truly denotes. In addition to his recreation
of the definition of school, Ivan llich puts forth his belief that the idea
of school is based on several false premises. The first premise states
that children need to be in school and secondly, that children
undoubtedly learn while attending school, and the third premise that
these children can only learn while in the confines of the school. In
order to affectively refute these premises, Ivan llich turns the
discussion to focus on the nature of children.
Chapter three takes an in-depth look at the goals and practices of our
modern day education system. IIvan Ivan llich, during the first few
sentences of the chapter explains that education is still a status
symbol, that the amount that is spent on education can be easily
correlated to the amount of prestige and socio-economic flexibility an
individual will have in any given society. He compares the pupil to a
consumer and schooling to a product. We are forever forced, if we
intend to be successful, to be constant consumers. Just as any society
before us that has existed it is necessary for the population to abide by
certain rituals. School, in our society, and even throughout the entire
world could be said to be the most prominent of rituals. It has allowed
us to form a specialized hierarchy.
Ivan llich claims that most learning is not the result of instruction, but
rather participation in a meaningful setting. Modern day schools force
its students to identify their personal growth against a sliding scale of
pretentious manipulation. The idea that a pre-set schedule of learning
is detrimental is conveyed by the fact that we are eventually
conditioned to institutional instruction, which is then carried to every
part of life. We no longer have an our own original way of viewing
ourselves in the world around us.

CHAPTER 4
We are forever inclined to wear the rose-colored glasses that an
instruction based education has taught us to wear. Curriculum is sold
to consumer pupils just as any other product. Like an assembly line,
supposed experts decipher what is necessary to include in the final
product and it is then shaped by time constraints and a monetary
budget. The distributor teacher doles out the pre-planned curriculum
and the pupils are carefully studied, so as to provide information for
the next model of curriculum. As a society of consumer pupils we are
constantly looking for the newest product, the most researched and
carefully studied.Ivan llich thinks that the future depends more upon
our choice of institutions that support a life of action than on our
developing new technologies. He thinks there are two types of
institutions: the dominant type and the convivial.

Chapter five talks about the idea of a publicly prescribed education. It

mentions the origins of public schooling under the impact of
urbanization and "the cult of efficiency" in the united states. Ivan llich
explains how schools have evolved into something too systematic and
rigid where the idea of freedom is having a choice of "packaged
commodities" Ivan llich says it is important for a new counterculture
to rethink todays educational style. We should find
the value in a more personalizedunpredictable education.
In chapter six, Ivan llich talks about how to turn learning into a self-
motivated process for the student, opposed to the teachers having to
force or trick students into learning and taking time to learn. He says
we need to know the differences between schooling and learning and
he explains this through four different categories of educational
institutions. First, reference services to educational objects, which
allow access to resources used in formal education. Things like
libraries, museums, theaters, airports, or farms are to be made easily
accessable to students. Second, skill exchanges, which allows people to
list skills and how they
are able to help others to learn these skills and how they can be
contacted. Third, peer-matching, which is a network of people who
can
easily interact with one-another in order to enrich the learning
process. And last, reference services to educators-as-large, which is
basically a directory to all those in the educational field and the
services they can provide.
In the last chapter, the author describes the development of the
human race as a collection of societies that are based upon man-made
institutions for needs fulfillment. The author compares current with
ancient societies in terms of their fundamental dependence: whereas
ancient societies directly relied upon nature for the fulfillment of their
needs, modern society relies upon institutions. When hungry, the
modern person visits the appropriate commercial establishment to fill
the need.
Furthermore, modern life has become despiritualized. Ancient
societies depended upon the mystical, spiritual and religious to
explain their world and its manifestations. Modern scientists have
demystified these manifestations, and provided explanations for
everything. The ancient dependence upon the mystical higher power
has also been replaced by
the modern dependence upon science.