Description

Only in the 1960s did a significant group of thinkers mount a
systematic and powerful challenge to compulsory schooling. In-
deed, it is precisely because their critique was so devastating that
we hear so little about the deschooling movement today. Let us
therefore examine one of the key texts of that movement: De-
schooling Society, by Ivan Illich, which was first published in
1971. Many free marketeers will associate Dr Illich primarily with
certain aspects of the Green movement, and thus may be inclined
to arbitrarily dismiss his opinions on other subjects. Yet a central
theme of Illich’s writing is the right of individuals to take direct
control over their lives, free from coercive institutions. Everybody
has the right to have his or her ideas examined one at a time, and
Illich’s opinions on education not only earn him release from the
libertarian Rogue’s Gallery, but even put him on the shortlist for
inclusion in the libertarian Pantheon.