What lies behind deschooling?

Abstract

In 1972, Prospects printed a critique of the school as an institution (‘Freeing Educational Resources’, Vol. II, No. 1, 1972, p. 48) by Everett Reimer, criticism which had gained currency among a growing circle of educators, mostly from Western industrialized countries. This debate was carried on in Prospects in several other issues: Paulo Freire, ‘Education, Domestication or Liberation’, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 173; J. Blat-Gimeno, ‘Should we Abolish the Schooling of Children?’, Vol. II, No. 4, 1972; the ‘Viewpoints and Controversies’ section of Vol. III, No. 1; R. Nassif, ‘The Theory of De-schooling between Paradox and Utopianism’, Vol. V, No. 3, 1975.

The following is a new contribution by Professor A. Petrovsky of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, who proposes a defence of the school as an institution. The debate is as one can see by no means closed.