Ivan Illich on deschooling, conviviality, and systems. Possibilities for education and social change. 

Known for his critique of modernization and the corrupting impact of institutions, Ivan Illich’s concern with deschooling, learning webs, and the disabling effect of professions struck a chord among many educators and pedagogues. We explore some key aspects of his theories and his continuing relevance for education, pedagogy, and lifelong learning.

https://infed.org/dir/welcome/ivan-illich-deschooling-conviviality-and-lifelong-learning/

Scarcity by design, not by nature

Illich argued that modern economies don’t primarily produce goods—they produce dependence.

In Tools for Conviviality, he makes a sharp distinction:

  • Convivial tools → empower people to act independently (bicycles, language, shared knowledge)

  • Industrial tools → require experts, credentials, institutions, and constant growth

Once a system crosses a certain scale:

  • It no longer serves human needs

  • It creates new needs that only it can satisfy

That’s how prosperity turns into permanent inadequacy.

Celebration of Awareness: A Call for Institutional Revolution

A forecast given in 1970 that we can look back on and reflect, we were warned. Look what came true. Look what is still being done. 

It's organized as a series of essays that challenge the big institutions of the 1970's church, medicine, and education. How Western Civilization actively attempts to modernized the third world countires to need the benefits provided by all three. Even if the styles didn't fit the actual reality of the country being Westernized.

Buses are alternatives to a multitude of private cars. Vehicles designed for slow transportation on rough terrian are alternatives to standard trucks. Safe water is an alternative to high-priced surgery. Medical workers are an alternative to doctors and nurses. Commnity food storage is an alternative to expensive kitchen equipment. 


The church bit seemed a bit heavy until I caught the segue into education. No, I did not see that coming. 
I think lifelong education credits is a splendid idea. It would work especially well if healthy adults weren't expected to labour every day. 
Let's review Chapter 11 again and maybe see if there are any available researchers who can "doubt what is obvious to every eye" fifty-five years later. 
We can pick up from there...

I do remember he didn't appreciate building as much as I would have liked. Start basic yes, but people enjoy building. And if the labour is going to run dry then build it better. Meaningful labour in exchange for convenience. If all the refrigerators have already been delivered, it may be too late. Or, if we could replace them with something more durable. Ah yes the community kitchen. But without the regulations? Yah. How do you persuade those who have the power of decision to act against their own short-term interests or bring pressure on them to do so? Counterresearch.

Maybe in this light we can revisit automation

Chapter One of Deschooling Society begins as follows:

Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby “schooled” to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is “schooled” to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.

When adults are required to be:

  • somewhere specific

  • for most waking hours

  • under external supervision

then children must be warehoused somewhere else. Schools aren’t just about learning — they’re the child side of adult containment.

Two sides of the same coin.

archives.libraries.psu.edu   

https://archives.libraries.psu.edu › repositories › 3 › resources › 10999

Collection: Ivan Illich papers | Penn State University Libraries ...

Abstract Ivan Illich was a noted social historian who spent fall semesters in residence as a visiting faculty for Penn State's Science, Technology and Society Program from 1986 to 1996. This collection is mainly comprised of manuscripts, published works, research files and index cards, reviews of his work