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Title: Anarchism and education
Author: Rev Dia
Date: 25 November 2019
Language: en
Topics: education
Source: Retrieved on 26th January 2022 from a translation of https://revdia.org/2019/11/25/anarhizm-ta-osvita/

Rev Dia

Anarchism and education

Education has always played a greater role in society than just teaching

children to count and read correctly. After the introduction of the

general education system in the industrial age, it became a very

effective tool of state propaganda. Students are taught not only to add

correctly, but also patriotism and how to be an obedient cog in the

system. The main goal of the state system is to cultivate obedient

citizens. As for vocational education, it is, in particular in Ukraine,

fully standardized and does not take into account the individual

aptitudes of the student. Moreover, in fact, quality specialized

education is not available to many people because it is too expensive.

Many thinkers of anarchism have tried to develop an optimal model of

learning.

In the 19^(th) century, Joseph Proudhon proposed transferring the

management of education to the communities of workers and peasants, who

would be able to hire teachers based on their needs. All subsequent

theorists of anarchism developed this idea. In the twentieth century,

Ivan Ilyich proposed replacing the school with free informal

associations. Communities in which people could meet to share knowledge,

skills centers, training partners. He put forward the idea that it is

practice-oriented should be the basis of modern education. Not an

abstract curriculum, but the student’s environment and personal actions

determine what knowledge he will receive.

Mikhail Bakunin proposes an integrated model of education, built on the

ancient system: a person must be equally developed physical and

intellectual skills. He considered the main study of nature and

sociology. Practical education should prepare young people for the

“choice of profession” to which they feel inclined. To further choose an

individual program of study in the chosen field under the guidance of

mentors.

Francisco Ferrer, a Spanish educator-anarchist, opened in 1901 in

Barcelona, the “Modern School” — a secular school, which embodied the

principle of “rationalist education”, ie one that develops the child

according to its individual characteristics. Boys and girls, regardless

of social status, studied together at this school. Training took place

in the form of conversations with teachers, work in workshops and walks

(trips to nature, excursions to factories and museums, and so on).

Emphasis was placed on natural science subjects and discussions with

children on current issues. Gradually, other schools for workers’

children began to appear in Spain, following the example of the Ferrer

School. His ideas were extremely popular abroad and inspired the

creation of new types of teachers in the United States, Germany, Brazil

and other countries. The tragic death of Ferrer, who was executed on

unfounded charges of organizing the uprising, only increased the

popularity of his concept.

In terms of educational content, a combination of theoretical knowledge

and practical activities is important. Education detached from practice

and real-life problems is bound to turn into fiction. The American

writer and psychotherapist Paul Goodman wrote a book in 1964 entitled

“Compulsory Poor Education,” in which he notes that American teenagers

often drop out of school because they fail. Schools force children to

“absurdly grow up” — in four walls, in isolation from life experience,

in unnatural age groups. The school only pretends to provide education,

in fact it only takes time. And suppresses creativity and the inherent

human desire to learn about the world around.

Education is not limited by the walls of any institutions. And the

modern world confirms this, now there are MOOC platforms, numerous

tutoring services, popular training videos on YouTube. The monopoly on

knowledge is disappearing. People want to share skills and easily learn

from each other: if you have a blown light bulb in the car headlight,

you can go to the service, and you can watch a video with detailed

instructions on how to change it. And this video was shot not by a

certified repairman, but by the same person as you, who dealt with the

problem a little earlier.

Let’s move on to practice, free public education in schools is a very

good tool for advocacy, but in no way helps the child to form the

necessary knowledge base about the world around him. Therefore, the

state must withdraw its hands from education. Anarchists aim to make

quality education accessible to all, and to snatch it from the hands of

state or religious propaganda.

In an anarchist society, the task of financing education will be

transferred to the competence of the apparatus of democratic planning.

Although current education is called free, we pay for it through taxes.

And we have no leverage to influence this process. A socially oriented

economy will make this process transparent, and will allow people to

plan the construction of educational institutions and all the costs of

their maintenance. The task of secondary (school) education will be the

development of critical thinking and initiative in the student. The

system, divided into classes by age and general educational programs,

will be a thing of the past. And they will be replaced by the

opportunity to individually choose items to attend in the interests of

the student.

Vocational education will be conducted directly at enterprises. Thanks

to constant practice, the student will be able to more effectively

master the industries he has chosen. And by reducing the working day and

creating conditions with free access to any information, everyone will

have the opportunity to constantly develop their knowledge and skills.

Current education is detached from reality, so students often find

themselves completely unfit for life in the real world after graduation.

And they can’t find a job because they don’t have the necessary skills.

The bigger problem is that quality education is not available to most.

And that we can not manage the budgets allocated to the organization of

education. Therefore, we have a situation where schools are overcrowded

and parents are beaten by officials with requests to finally build a

school in their city. That is why the state must take its hands off

education, society will be able to cope with the issue of its education

much better.