Deschooling Society
Book by Ivan IllichWikipedia
57
MENTIONS
3
EPISODES
2
PODCASTS
Search complete. 57 mentions across 3 episodes found for "Deschooling Society".
Oct 2, 2026
Pat FarengaGUEST
It's that, you know, to them...
Pat FarengaGUEST
Well, it's like this classic dichotomy that, uh, Ivan Illich really e- exploited in his book, "Deschooling Society." Schooling is not the same as education, but we conflate them, you know.
Pat FarengaGUEST
And so, you know, professional educators think that the only way you can learn is to sit down and, and be lectured or instructed in some way, but it's always eyes ahead on the single person.
Pat FarengaGUEST
And that's fine.
Pat FarengaGUEST
We know this.
Pat FarengaGUEST
Yes, you know, throughout history, people have gathered in groups to learn and do things together, but that's not the only way.
Pat FarengaGUEST
And then, um, a man named, uh, a philosopher, Jacques Ellul, wrote in the 19- late 1950s a book called "The Technological Society." And, you know, he was warning about, like, you know, how we're letting technology or- reorder our brains to think that this is the way we should be, and he cited schooling as a technology.
Pat FarengaGUEST
Um, and, you know, using World War II as an example.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
But it's our society, you know, and so it, it affects us.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
And that's, that's one of the reasons why, uh, you know, Illich called the book-- Well, he didn't name the book Deschooling Society, but that's what he meant by it.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
Not, not that we need to blow up all the schools any more than John Holt was saying, you know, g- get rid of schools.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
Uh, he's saying all we need is to disestablish them as the norm.
10 MINS LATER
Patrick FarengaGUEST
So what? Time, you know, they got their lives in front of them, and you don't know where any of this is gonna go.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
This is the thing is like We think of school as the salvation for our children.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
But, you know, as Illich wrote in Deschooling Society, we, we believe that schools can do what God cannot, which is manipulate others for their own salvation.
Patrick FarengaGUEST
You know, so many parents just think that if I send you to a good school, you'll become this moral great person.
Guy RazHOST
And so, well, tell me the story, like, what did you do there?
Jeffrey HollenderGUEST
Well, I, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I read an amazing book by Ivan Illich, who's an educational philosopher, called Deschooling Society, and Ivan Illich's philosophy was that formal education in universities constrain the flow of knowledge more than facilitate it.
Jeffrey HollenderGUEST
Those who are affluent, who can afford it, get access to it.
Jeffrey HollenderGUEST
Those who aren't, don't.