What School Teaches

Posted on | February 22, 2009 | 7 Comments

Schooling:

…..teaches people the accountant’s view of the value of time, the bureaucrat’s view of the value of promotion, the salesman’s view of the value of increased consumption, and the union leader’s view of the purpose of work. People are taught all this not by the teacher but by the curriculum hidden in the structure of the school. It does not matter what the teacher teaches so long as the pupil has to attend hundreds of hours of age-specific assemblies to engage in a routine decreed by the curriculum and is graded according to his ability to submit to it.

People learn that they acquire more value in the market if they spend more hours in class. They learn to value progressive consumption of curricula. They learn that whatever a major institution produces has value, even invisible things such as education and health. They learn to value grade advancement, passive submission, and even the standard misbehaviour that teachers like to interpret as a sign of creativity.

They learn disciplined competition for the favour of the bureaucrat who presides over their daily sessions, who is called their teacher as long as they are in class, and their boss when they go to work. They learn to define themselves as holders of knowledge stock in the speciality in which they have made investments of their time. They learn to accept their place in society precisely in the class and career corresponding to the level at which they leave school and to the field of their academic specialization.

[Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality, Part III 'Multiple Balance']

Illich’s writings are always profoundly political and, indeed, polemical. When he wrote this in the 1970s, he believed it might be possible for schools and education in the developing world to avoid the ‘industrialism’ of schooling in the developed world.

Does any of the above still resonate today?

Technorati Tags: ivan illich, tools for conviviality, schooling, industrialism

Category: capitalism, creativity, curriculum, education, emerging regions, learning, philosophy, politics, qualifications system, schooling

Comments

7 Responses to “What School Teaches”

Louise Maine
February 22nd, 2009 @ 10:51 pm

It still resonates from where I view it. What will it take to break this?
David Gilmour
February 22nd, 2009 @ 11:49 pm

They learn to define themselves as holders of knowledge stock in the speciality in which they have made investments of their time.

This might provide an insight into why subject specialists can find it so difficult to see themselves as teachers, and not as mathematicians, scientists, historians or whatever.
Kenneth...
February 23rd, 2009 @ 10:26 pm

And the alternative is…?
John Connell
February 24th, 2009 @ 7:57 am

Ah, so much resides in that short question, Kenneth.

Are you genuinely interested in alternatives, or does the brevity of the question indicate your scepticism about any such alternatives?

If the question is a genuine one, then it simply isn’t possible to answer in a brief paragraph or two. The answers – because there are, of course, many possible alternatives – can only be found in a body of work, or even better in a broader discourse. And just such a discourse is already happening around the globe, and it is one that follows, as you might expect, many different strands, all leading to a wide variety of possible conclusions.

But at least the conversation is happening, and it is one that you can join whenever you wish – perhaps through your own blog?
Kenneth...
February 24th, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

Yes I am interested in alternatives, if there are some. I’m interested in your opinion as to what a different model of schooling might look like.
John Connell
February 24th, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

Give me time, Kenneth….I’ll offer something some time soon….
Keishla
February 25th, 2009 @ 12:18 am

I had the conversation with some of my students a few weeks ago. They all had a look of horror on their faces as I described the “factory model” school system that they were being educated in (can’t you hear the whistle of the factory calling you….sounds like the bells to change periods!)

I just don’t believe the ridiculous bureaucratic power structure and the monied interests tied up into testing and the like are going to release their jaws to allow something different….maybe I am a cynic, but I would love for someone to prove me wrong.