'The Book ' Blog 31

Chapter ten continued …

Free Schools

The free school reform was born out of questions such as: Why in a democratic society, should an individual first contact with a formal institution, such as schooling be so undemocratic? Is it really necessary for schools to be so ridged and create a need for such conformity?

The ideals from the individuals behind the free school movement united themselves with a common vision: a democratic, cooperative, and unstructured education – a vision of schools that promotes rather than retards personal development. The authors have noted a discrepancy with-in this movement: there must be a rejection that schools are independent of society. This then places schools in a social and economic context. (As was mentioned before, this requires a change in the economic system.)

In and of itself a liberated education will only produce unhappy workers as there is a disconnect that exists – while ones education may be liberated, the work force to which one enters is not.

Another shortcoming of the free school movement is that it ignores its own class composition. The main supporters of free schools are comprised of a limited and privileged section of society. A true revolution and democratization of economic life requires united action of diverse social classes and groups. There must be a conflict free alliance among these groups. As well, by treating the free school movement as universally valid, it ignores the social forces which gave it its ground on which it grew.

Yet it takes more than personal discontent and job blues to create a movement capable of transforming the structure of society. The potential revolutionary impact of the free school movement will not depend on the creation of mini utopias in our schools so much as the ability to create awareness among its participants. Free schools must create not a temporary and privileged oasis of freedom, but an understanding of oppression and how to fight it in capitalist society. The free school movement must teach the tools of liberation. This depends on the development of a political self- understanding of the movement itself.

A note here must be that the free school movement in part has been created by the elite who are now being faced with the segregation of their own work lives, to create a situation that deals with the contradictions in their own lives. Due to this the movement may not be respected or accepted by repressed minorities.

** The political impact of the free school movement will largely depend on the on the objectives that will be pursued. If this movement is pushed to restore the lost privileges in the hierarchy of production, they will isolate themselves from other workers. What needs to occur is the politicization of the free school movement, an egalitarian workers democracy, and a strategy for alliance with all oppressed groups. Then and only then will the movement gain any ground.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I am a firm believer that change needs to be made somewhere and that children are one of the many starting points to create that change. What I think is that the authors have described what sounds dangerously like a revolution and the need to over throw capitalism. The ideas that they have put forth are very good ones, but it sounds like there is a need to radically change the mind-frames and unite large groups of individuals, who historically in the past have been divided. I am not quite sure what to make of that. It is not to say that I do not think that the free school movement does not have its merits and it would be a great way to run individual class room. What I think would be more feasible is to incorporate an element of the free school movement into today’s classroom. I think that with the way in which our government operates, particularly in Alberta, it would be easier to reform elements of the pre-existing education structure. I think that future teachers need to take advantage of the freedom they have over their own classroom and work with their administrations to make the free school movement possible.

De-Schooling

A very interesting concept that was brought up in the last part of chapter ten was the idea of de-schooling. It is a concept that was proposed by a man named Ivan Illich. He proposed that schools be eliminated altogether. He believes that values in society are geared towards goods and services and their consumption. Illich believes that society has created a vicious cycle of consumption that we have been told will satisfy us. Schools are a source of this manipulation. Illich believes preventing this manipulation is to get rid of the maniplualative institutions. (De-schooling.) The authors feel that this completely misses the point, because this manipulation of consumerism has its roots in capitalism, and not in social intuitions such as schools.

I think that schools sole purpose cannot just be to manipulate students into conforming to the consumerism cycle. There are many facets outside of the life of the economy where school plays a crucial role. It makes me wonder if Illich has spent any time with children, or had any of his own.