What is School For?

A few weeks ago in SED 406, we looked at the work of John Dewey and Ivan Illich in the context of addressing the question ‘What is school for?’ Dewey and Illich have very opposing views regarding the value of schools as social institutions. Dewey sees schools as the foundation of society, “bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race, and to use his own powers for social ends.” Illich, on the other hand, calls for a “deschooling” of society, a disestablishment of institutionalized learning, which he believes promotes “psychological impotence” by fostering dependence and causes “global degradation and modernized misery.” Though seemingly so opposed, there is a commonality in the ideas of Dewey and Illich – the idea that real learning empowers students to let their interests guide their educational journey. Both Dewey and Illich prioritize a development of personal agency as a goal of education. However, Dewey believes that school fosters agency while Illich believes it kills it.

Class discussion on this subject was very interesting. I think many of us saw some sense in Illich’s radical ideas, but felt that a complete deschooling of society is impractical. While Illich would argue that institutionalized education is inherently subject to inequities, we questioned how doing away with institutions and putting the power of education completely in the hands of individuals could possibly lead to equity in a society such as ours in which there is so such great income inequality. On the other hand, I don’t think any of us would argue for returning to Dewey’s time where education primarily meant imparting the values of rich, white men unto other rich, white men. In thinking about what school is for in modern America, I agree with Dewey and Illich on the matter of developing agency – I believe that the goal of schools is to foster critical thinking and problem solving skills while providing a standard of basic knowledge. I tend to agree more with Dewey however on the idea of educational institutions being beneficial for society. I think it is possible to have institutions that provide equitable access to education and give power to the people served. Whether or not this is actually happening in schools today is another question – Illich may be more correct on that fact. However, just because institutions can be structured in such a way as to disempower those they serve, I do not think this is inherent to their nature. I think it’s important to look at the structure of an institution, what it values and how its values guide its practices.

Following this discussion, we spent some time observing classes at Central Falls High, keeping the question of ‘What is school for?’ in mind. I observed a history class in which the students worked in groups on laptops researching military technology used in World War I. They were instructed by the teacher to fill out a detailed description of how the technology worked, how it was different from what was used in previous wars, what the equivalent technology looks like today, and how it affected the soldiers, which the teacher stressed was the most important part. The students would be giving brief presentation on their research the following day. While only a small glimpse into what is going on in the classrooms at Central Falls High, I think this was a good lesson in that it was student-focused. Alternatively, the teacher could have lectured to the students about this subject, but I don’t think this would have been as effective. By structuring the lesson as a research project, the teacher has put the power of learning into the students’ hands and is helping them to develop critical thinking skills that are widely applicable. I think this suggests that the goal of Central Falls High is not simple to get students to spit back a lot of information to which they see no connection, but to help them develop agency and empower them in their learning. Though, there is also a message in the school of how important graduation is in and of itself (there are literally signs in the hallways saying, “Get on track to graduate!”), which I think reflects the practical reality of school sometimes – we discussed this in class after our observations, how in poor communities, school is often important in simply meeting the basic needs of students. Still, the school seems to care about the students in terms of their whole development – there are lots of after-school activities offered that reflect varied interests and cultures and I think they are on the right track to becoming a school that provides valuable learning experiences and builds young people into strong and thoughtful citizens.