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Deschooling (Reimer and Illich)

📚 Education By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: Deschooling, argued by Ivan Illich and Everett Reimer, criticises schools for monopolising learning and confusing credentials with education, proposing open learning webs instead.
Contents
  1. 1. Background
  2. 2. Reimer: School Is Dead
  3. 3. Illich: Deschooling Society
  4. 4. Assessment
  5. 5. References

Background

Ivan Illich and Everett Reimer developed their ideas at CIDOC in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in the late 1960s; both books appeared in 1971.

Reimer: School Is Dead

Schools perform custodial care, social role selection, indoctrination and education, but the first three dominate. Costly schooling excludes the poor and legitimises inequality.

Illich: Deschooling Society

Illich attacked the institutionalisation of values: confusing teaching with learning, grades with competence and diplomas with ability, a hidden curriculum producing institution-dependent consumers. He proposed learning webs: reference services to educational objects, skill exchanges, peer matching and reference services to educators, often seen as anticipating online learning.

Assessment

A classic critique alongside reproduction theory, it is faulted for risking less access for disadvantaged learners and lacking concrete plans, yet influenced homeschooling, alternative schools and lifelong education.

References

  1. Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling Society. Harper & Row.
  2. Reimer, E. (1971). School Is Dead: Alternatives in Education. Doubleday.
  3. Holt, J. (1976). Instead of Education. Dutton.
  4. Gintis, H. (1972). Towards a political economy of education: A radical critique of Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society. Harvard Educational Review, 42(1), 70-96.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.