Deschooling Society


Deschooling Society is a book that brought Ivan Illich to public attention. It is a critical discourse on education as practised in modern economies.

Summary

The book contains suggestions for changes to learning in society and individual lifetimes. For example,
he calls for the use of advanced technology to support "learning webs".
Illich argued that the use of technology to create decentralized webs could support the goal of creating a good educational system:
Illich posited self-directed education, supported by intentional social relations in fluid informal arrangements:
The last sentence makes clear what the title suggests—that the institutionalization of education is considered to institutionalize society and conversely that ideas for de-institutionalizing education may be a starting point for a de-institutionalized society.

Learning Networks

Developing this idea, Illich proposes four Learning Networks.
  1. Reference Service to Educational Objects - An open directory of educational resources and their availability to learners.
  2. Skills Exchange - A database of people willing to list their skills and the basis on which they would be prepared to share or swap them with others.
  3. Peer-Matching - A network helping people to communicate their learning activities and aims in order to find similar learners who may wish to collaborate.
  4. Directory of Professional Educators - A list of professionals, paraprofessionals and free-lancers detailing their qualifications, services and the terms on which these are made available.