Deschooling

Deschooling is a complicated term and arises in discussions of various alternative forms of education such as free schools, community-driven opportunity webs, and in the current literature related to the homeschooling movement. Deschooling was introduced in 1971's Deschooling Society, written by Ivan Illich and included in the World Perspectives book series edited by the humanist philosopher, Ruth Nanda Anshen. In suggesting the disestablishment of schools—thus nurturing the opportunity for each person to engage in a curriculum of learning, sharing, and caring—Illich's writing was representative of the work of Anshen's series as a statement of possibilities in a progressive frame of social and moral consciousness.

Illich credits his long-term associate, Everett Reimer, for stimulating his interest in and critique of public education. Reimer and Illich collaborated on ...