De-schooling Society

Having lunch with a friend Sophia Parker, ex-Demos. She is the author of Unlocking Innovation. Why citizens hold the key to public service reform And perhaps also of relevance The Journey to the Interface. How public service design can connect users to reform.

We were engaged in a deep conversation at RIBA the other day concerning - how one creates and shares knowledge and information in a networked society. How one builds a better society and that the logic and way of doing things in a networked society is different to what one did in an industrial society.

Sophia, mentioned Ivan Illich famous for his book - Deschooling Society (1971), which according to wikipedia is

a critical discourse on education as practised in "modern" economies. Full of detail on then-current programs and concerns, the book's core assertions and propositions remain as radical today as they were at the time. Giving real-world examples of the ineffectual nature of institutionalized education, Illich posited self-directed education, supported by intentional social relations, in fluid, informal arrangements

Illich writes

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. We hope to contribute concepts needed by those who conduct such counterfoil research on education--and also to those who seek alternatives to other established service industries.

Illich arose out of a conversation about dyslexia - as all 3 of my children are gifted with dyslexia. And the fact that I had spent the last 15 years of my life supporting my children in the private sector - as the state system does not educate the child - the state processes the child. And for dyslexic's its even worse, they fall out the bottom, off the sides - with low self-esteem because the system says they are not intelligent, nor useful nor relevant to society.

My frustration is this is not how you truly enable all children to fulfill their true potential. In a networked society Illich's views I think make even more sense.

the institutionalization of education is considered to tend towards the institutionalization of society, and conversely that ideas for de-institutionalizing education may be a starting point for a de-institutionalized society

All institutions built and created over the last 150 years are premised upon the linear mindset of the industrial era - in a post-industrial society - what Sophia also touched upon, and I hope she will personally expand more about is, that its not the vision, the big hairy audacious goal that what drives these organisations on a day-to-day but the process of treading water.

Sir Ken Robinson in a presentation said

We educate our children from the waist up, then we focus on their heads, and then we only educate one side of their brain. The whole purpose of education is to produce university professors. Who live only in their heads. Their bodies are only there to transport their heads to meetings.

Read here the text of Deschooling Society

Illich opens his book so...

Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.

But perhaps Achieving world class public services published by the Cabinet Office today might provide a ray of light?

Comments

[Tim]

Hi Alan
Interested to see your latest piece on Illich and your assertion that:
"All institutions built and created over the last 150 years are premised upon the linear mindset of the industrial era..."
Well I would suggest that is somewhat of a generalization and that many people are already seeking, establishing and collaborating with new ways of working. I mentioned the Tallberg Foundation the other day http://www.tallbergfoundation.org/
as one such meeting of minds.

In the educational sphere the Waldorf School premised upon Rudolph Steiner's work from the beginning of the last century certainly challenges the ideas of the industrial/materialist era in many ways.
http://www.steinerwaldorf.org/

That work continues in many spheres including agriculture, health, economics etc. It is a battle given the ingrained nature of the materialist mindset but there are people willing and able to take up the challenge.

[Ben Ortega]

We need to bring back education that was built to create "Learners".

Our education system has moved away from this and is now concentrated on making sure our students, the next generation, are equipped to pass a test. Will they continue to learn after they've received their grade when they've only been geared to that test? No... That formula doesn't facilitate creating a life long learner.

Haven't heard of Illich's book but now I'm off to get it. Thanks.

Ben

[Alan Moore]

Dear Tim,

I could not agree more that there are many initiatives premised upon a different way of doing things. This blog leading the charge since 2005 and SMLXL since 2002 :-). However, in my day to day life, when I come into contact with many institutions and organisations you meet the legacy of an industrial world. And education is certainly one of them and local government is definitely another.

What we need is these initiatives to become more mainstream - that was my point.

And indeed - "industrialisation" is defining in its philosophy because it requires and demands a certain approach. Our school were designed like that and to feed the industrial machine - we no longer have an industrial economy - yet every government as failed to really deliver the education that every child deserves.

Alan :-)

[Tim]

Spot on Alan. I totally agree and fortunately there are many people taking up the strain of challenging the industrial mindset. And it is a real battle for all concerned - so many vested interests. It is difficult to break out of the old ways of doing things. Little by little though the world views butt up next to each other and there is a mutual exchange - back to the Steiner Waldorf schools situation: in Germany and Holland these schools are seen practically as part of the mainstream and get government recognition. In the UK and Ireland there is still a long way to go as the conflict between "national curriculum's" and a more independent approach clash. That said both in Ireland and England Steiner schools have started to obtain State funding to put their schools on a sounder financial footing. Some might say that they should stand on their own two feet and not have state funding, but as Lord Digby Jones has said our society is built from many pillars and it is reasonable that we all work together to hold up the edifice that is society.