Illich, Ivan (1926–2002)

Ivan Illich, known for his critique on the corrupting impact of institutions of learning on the education of young children, received the attention of many educators. Few scholars, perhaps, have approached this task with greater voracity, authenticity, depth, and sense of purpose than Ivan Illich. His voluminous knowledge of history and philosophy were brought to bear on a host of issues and institutions of modern society, from schools to medicine. At every turn in Illich's wide-ranging writing, he was a contrarian and iconoclastic thinker who never shied away from polemics. He believed in his ideas (such as self-treatment of medical conditions) so greatly that he did not seek treatment for a painful cancer that would eventually end his life. Arguably his most trenchant analysis was of the institutions of contemporary education. Illich departed dramatically from most mainstream educational philosophy (both conservative and liberal), which emphasized the humanistic goals and liberatory potential of mass education through schooling. In dissenting from these orthodox notions, Illich offered a radical vision of education that would not be subject to the conformist forces and institutionalizing structures that he felt were crippling individuals' potential and, by extension, society's possibility for progress.

Although Illich was born in Vienna, his family ancestry extended around the Mediterranean. From an early age, Illich's diverse relatives encouraged his multilingualism in classical and modern languages. He began his formal education at the University of Florence in Italy. From 1942 to 1946, Illich studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Vatican and then in Salzburg as well. He eventually studied and drafted a treatise on the work of Arnold Toynbee for his doctorate. Toynbee and his comprehensive analysis of history was a very fitting subject for Illich as it mirrored many of his own interests.

Illich worked as a priest starting in 1951 in New York City, where he became involved with the local Puerto Rican community. Building on the strong ties he developed, Illich took a leadership role at the University of Puerto Rico in 1956. Several years later, he began an adventurous trip through Central and South America. He eventually settled in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and created the Centro Intercultural de Documentación in 1961, which conducted language and cultural courses for missionaries and other students. Illich would maintain the center for a decade before moving subsequent to conflicts with the Vatican. During the last period of his life, he taught around the world at numerous universities while maintaining connections in Mexico.

His Deschooling Society (1971) is certainly his best known and most influential book. After years as an educator and drawing from his historical and philosophical training, Illich had come to understand schools not as places for learning emancipatory liberal ideals, but primarily as sites for the institutionalization of society. Illich was incredibly skeptical about schools serving the aim of universal [Page 454]education of the masses of the world. Instead of promoting education through schooling, he posited that people must be much more self-directed in their learning. Further, Illich thought that undoing the fabric of education through schooling would be the first step in removing the impulse of institutionalization from society.

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