User talk:Mils1234

Deschooling Society By Ivan Illich

I found this idea around schools no longer being as important as they once were very interesting especially due to the increasing access to technology being a cause of this. Ivan Illich's idea to deschool society is a very radical idea as this is a very old institution which is always promoted as being very important due to the policies introduced to make sure everyone has the right and should go to school, making Ivan's ideas more intriguing. I wanted to find out more about the alternative ideas for schools Ivan has developed to understand his theory more.

Topic Paragraph: The main issues I wanted to address in my Wikipedia article is whether schools are still important and if not what could be an alternative to it. Additionally, I would like to explore more into Ivan Illich and where his ideas originated from and who he took inspiration from to come up with such a extreme idea. Schools are one of the biggest and most important institutions in society as it leads to growth and development not only in outer society but the individual people. This makes his ideas so controversial as all the governments around the world have policies solidifying how important education is and this is just accepted by everyone as its such a normal part of society. The increasing technology has made education different and less reliant on teachers or books which is part of Ivan's argument however there is still no proper alternatives that would ensure that education is done fairly and regulated.

Annotated Bibliography:

Reimer, E.R. (1971) School is dead: An essay on alternatives in education Harmondsworth: Penguin

Reimer is a friend of Illich and after a conversation with him he decided to write this book to include his opinions and ideas on the deschooling society book by Ivan Illich. It includes what schools do, how they are funded, his own opinion of schools and then how revolutionise education. this would be a good source to back up the ideas of Illich as they both agree on the matter but also shows more ideas of how to actually deschool society.

Gintis, H. (1972) 'Towards a political economy of education: A radical critique of Ivan Illich's Deschooling society', 42(1), https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.42.1.h2m4644728146775

This would be a good article to evaluate the book with as it gives a different point of view as Gintis doesn't agree with Illich's main theory that schooling is there to shape consumer demands and expectations. He argued that the inequalities in education are in order to keep up the supply of workforce that would fit the capitalist production.

Sukarieh, M. Tannock, S. (2020) 'Deschooling from above', 61(4), https://doi-org.ezproxy.sussex.ac.uk/10.1177/0306396819889294

They have similar views to Illich but have applied it to contemporary society showing that his views are still relevant today. They argue that this idea of deschooling is good as it would be moving with the times and the new technology available. But they also said it would cause lots of problems like the socialisation children get from the school set up.

Jandric, P. (2014) 'Deschooling Virtuality', 1(1), pp.84-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/23265507.2014.965193

This article argues that technology and the internet have the ability to carry out Illich's deschooling. This could be backed up by a real life example of the switch to virtual learning in the Covid-19 pandemic. This has made a shift into considering Illich's theory more and showing that it could actually work.

Draft article:

Deschooling society is a book written by Ivan Illich in 1971. This book critiques education in modern society and suggests it isn't as successful as it could be. There have been many people who have developed this idea and related it to society. However, it has also received a lot of criticism as education is a very big part of society not only to educate but socialise the youth of today, so it could be to radical. This article will also look into the ideas of Illich and what he would do to revolutionise the education system with in order to fulfil his ideas surrounding 'deschooling', for example how he would use the new technology to develop the education system as he writes about in his book. Illich had a very comfortable upbringing with his father being a civil engineer and was able to travel and learn about the world from a young age. This means he was opened up to lots of different cultures and been able to build up a good view of wider society from a young age.

His Influence:

Illich has had a lot of influence of people through his ideas especially with this book which has made many people look at education differently and use his ideas in their own work. It has allowed for his ideas to be linked to society now and in different countries with him being from Austria. An example of this would be (Sukarieh, Tannock 2020) who applied Illich's theory to contemporary society and (Jandric, 2014) who argues that the new technology means that Illich's deschooling could be a possibility. Illich still having a big influence in society could be linked to the covid-19 outbreak as many people were having to be reliant on technology to carry on with work and education showing that his views could be possible. Their is always someone who is critiquing the education system and Illich's book would be a good thing to read to find inspiration.

Criticisms of Illich:

Illich's ideas and views surrounding education are radical as most people see education as an important part of society that shouldn't be changed as it has been made such a vital part of society even through policies. Everything in society says how important education is and the way it is run is the most fair for everyone person. for example, having a national curriculum however it is argued by Illich that this idea of universal education is not possible which is also argued by others as there is a lot of inequality in this. for instance, pupils from different countries with their first language not being the same as most people a universal education system, might not work for them or pit them at a disadvantage. However other sociologists would argue that this allows for education to be controlled and more easily compared in order to make sure it is fair.

Illich's solutions for education: The main focus of Illich is to use the new technology that is being developed to help decentralise education and make is better not being so universal. This has become very relevant in contemporary society due to Covid-19 pandemic which meant that all education was moved online using the technology for nearly a year. this has made Illich's argument much more strong for many people as we know it could happen quite easily as it was done overnight. Illich also suggests using more educational websites which would provide a more personalised and free of judgements from teachers as it would be anonymous therefore making it more fair. However, it could be argued that these ways of education would mean youth would miss out on very important things which is hidden in the school curriculum like social interaction and also it would be harder to motivate yourself without the pressure of a teacher.

Links for peer review:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Solar782/sandbox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Azaciel/sandbox#Societal_Transformation

References:

Gintis, H. (1972) 'Towards a political economy of education: A radical critique of Ivan Illich's Deschooling society', 42(1), https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.42.1.h2m4644728146775

Jandric, P. (2014) 'Deschooling Virtuality', 1(1), pp.84-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/23265507.2014.965193

Sukarieh, M. Tannock, S. (2020) 'Deschooling from above', 61(4), https://doi-org.ezproxy.sussex.ac.uk/10.1177/0306396819889294