Dewey versus Illich: Alternative Educational Utopias. (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject Pedagogy - History of Pedagogy, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Glasgow (Faculty of Education), course: The Learning Society: issues in modern education, language: English, abstract: In this paper I want to discuss two major educational theories which both had and still have an enormous impact on educational theory and practice all over the world. Looking at the American 19 th / 20 th century philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey, and at Ivan Illich, a radical educationalist of the late 20 th century, I want to focus on the concepts of socialisation underlying their theories. While John Dewey attempted to reform school so as to make possible "true education in a democratic sense, Ivan Illich promoted an educational revolution with "de-schooling as only one form of de- institutionalising society. A
comparison of these two diametrically opposed approaches towards education will be followed by pointing out where, and how far, they have found their way into educational policies and systems of our days. This will provide insight into the understanding of
socialisation as it is manifested in nowadays' schooling systems in Western Europe, especially in Scotland (Great Britain) .