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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 049 398 AA 000 693 AUTHOR John; McCarthy, Colleen TITLE Lifelong Learning or Lifelong Schooling? A Tentative iiew of the Ideas of Ivan Illich with a Quotational fibliography. INSTITUTION )iracuse Univ., N.Y. ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Aucation.; Syracuse Univ., N.Y. Publications Program in Continuing Education. PUB DATE Jul 71 NOTE 102p. AVAILABLE FRCM Ifublications in Continuing Education, 105 Roney lane, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210 ($1.50) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$6.5b DESCRIPTORS Adult Education, *Adult Educators, Annotated Libliographies, *Continuous Learning, Developing Nations, Educational Innovation, *Educational Philosophy, Educational Problems, literacy Education, Opinions, Organizations (Groups) IEENT1FIERS Center for Intercultural Documentation, Freire ( Paulo), *Mich (Ivan) AES1RACI Fecent writings on the life and thought of Ivan Illich are summarized in this paper. Attention is focused on his missionary training activities, his subsequent involvement with the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the influence of a Brazilian adult educator, Paulo Freira, on Illich's social and educational thinking. Finally, Illich's own views on public education and the learning process are set forth. He calls for the abolition of compulsory schooling in view of what he considers the idolatrous worship of formal education and certification, and the institutional failures of education, around the world. Illich alro urges that the drift of adult education ,award institutional status be reversed to help make way for informal educational networks based on mutual inquiry and on lifelong access to educational opportunities of one's owh choosing. Included are 157 references. (LY) LIFELONG LEARNING OR LIFELONG SCHOOLING? A TENTATIVE VIEW OF THE IDEAS OF IVAN ILLICH WITH A QUOTATIONAI1 BIBLIOGRAPHY by JOHN °HUGER Associate Professor of Adult Education The Ohio State University and COLLEEN MC CARTHY Syracuse Unheruity PUBLICATIONS IN CONTINUING EDUCATION AND ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON ADULT EDUCATION ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON ADULT EDUCATION 107 RONEY LANE I S"RACUSE, NEW YORK 13210 SPONSORED BY SYRACUSE UNIs'ERSITY AND THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMAT/ati CENTER Of THE U, S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION Stanley M. Grabowski / Acting Director This publica,lon was prepared pursuant to a contract with the °Lee ofEducation. US. Department of Health, Education and We Ifaie. Contractors undertakins such projects under Governmentsconsonhip are encovraced to express freely their judboent in professional and technical millers. Pointsof view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Once of Education Pcsition or folio/. OCCAnIONAL PAPERS A special series devoted to documents vhich, though prepared in a specific context and for a limited audience, are juded to be of such general interest that the:, merit rider distri- bution than that for ihich they 'were originally intended. They are presented in the hope that they will contribute to the nore general sharing of information and opinion atout ciuestions of importance in the field. of adult education. This Occasional Paper may be secured for $1.50 per copy by writing to: Publications in Continuing Education 105 Roney Lane Syracuse, New York 13210 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUE CARD Syracuse University Publications in Continuing Education ISBN Number: 0-87060-044 -3 AlVDACT keccnt writinrs on the life and thourht of 'van IlUch +tre sur- turized in this raper. Attention is focunad on his n3rio-ar: tvan!n..," aetivtier, his suhseouent involvea-ant t:e (:enter 7'or Inlcrcultrral Docurentation in Cuernavaca, "ayico, undthr influence of a 1,ra'2.51t,-n adult educator, Taulo Froi.re, on '- social and educational thinkinr;. 7Inally, 115 c'n own /joy, cn pubPc education and the learning process arc nct. fortt. for the aholition of compulsory schoolinr, in ,.rew of what he con- 1 sidcrs the idolatrous worship of forr.al education and carti"Sea- t'.en, and the institutional failures of education, around Illich also urres that the drift of adult caucat!.or institutional status be reversed to help naIleTtv far inforuA educaLional networks based on nutual inquiry ana on lifelong aeoass to educational opportunities of one's own choosina'. Includod arc t5'( references. 71a:T 1971 4. Society is changing rapidly in many ways, while our system of education is changing very slowly. The current crises call for critical changes, challenging all of us to our utmost capacities. post of us, however, are somewhat slow and hesitant to stand back and look with a dispassionate eye at the philosophy, institutional arrangements, methods, and techniques accepted by the system and honored through long usage. Ivan Mich is ceremoniously debunking man:,, "sacred cows" in education. lie is a radical and a revolutionary in the etymological sense of these words: a radical because he goes to the roots and foundations of issues; a revolutionary because he is trying to turn things right-side-up. Adult educators -- for too long looked anon by many as being engaged in peripheral and ephemeral educational activities -- will be particularly pleased as they study, with concerned interest, the implications of lifelong learning as preached by Illich. All of us are grateful and indebted to Dr. John Ohliger and Ms Colleen McCarthy for sharing with a wider audience this review of the literature by and about Ivan Illich and his thinking regard- ing lifelong learning. This review is based on the bibliography originally developed by Dr. Ohliger for his aduP education seminar at the Ohio State University. Also, we are grateful to the Syracuse University Publications in Continuing Education program for making this publication widely available. Stanley it. Grabowski, Acting Director, ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PASSE Introduction 1 The flan 2 Els Ideas 9 Transition to Bibliography 17 Quotational Bibliography 20 Introduction "I want to live in mutual education up to the ma!oent, and in the moment, or m7, death," says Ivan Mich Tho is this man ha is the subject of such gruding national andinternational atten- tion? To name only scyle of the most widely attended sources, Sr. recent, years he has been the subject of two articlesSr Ti Fe ni.ma- zine (1, 10), four article; in the Ne, York Times(6, 1], ]2, four articles by or about. him in raturdaY T,eviey 3!", R rrofile in the ';ew Yorher magazine(22), and the full treatment in Current Biograrhy (51). In the past six months he has arreare1 on a number of national '1.V. programs,includim "The Terlr7 and "The Dick Cavett E',ho." In rehruary, 1971, he spoke at national convention of the American Educational 7,esearch f,ssocia- tion (44). And he has 1:een invited to deliver a major addresn to the joint convention of the National Associationfor Public Continu- ing Adult Education and the Adult EducatinnAssociation in hoe Ani;eles this rovember. Iv has Mich been the subject of so much controversy inboth educational and religions circles?Probably the youngest r,onsigner in the history of the Boman Catholic Church in thiscountry, he has been called "one of the Church's most origInal andoutnroken inno- vators (and) most valuable figures (2)." Yet, In lg(9 he felt it Nunbers in parentheses refer to items in the bibliographybegin- ninu, on rage 20. necessary to "irrevocably" resign from his priestly functions (53). Newsweek for May 3, 1971 states: a forthcoming book, De-School- ink asiety. (48), Illich, an ebullient Catholic priest, will argue quite seriously the mind-boggling propmition that the United States ! should abolish compulsory education and replace it with a system geared to individual initiative. Most Americans, of course, are simply not prepared to accept solutions so contrary to their funda- mental beliefs." 'That implications for adult education do the ideas of this man have, who was recently quoted in the Saturday Review as saying, "Education of adults which is analytical and dialectic leads inevi- , table to a liberation from taboos....Real adult education is far more radical than training guerrillas (61)"? *That follows is our attempt to pose possible answers to the questions. We call this essay "a tentative view" because we are in a fluid process of interpreting the meaningc of his ideas for both our personal and work lives. The Man Ivan Illich "is a kind of ultimate figure, a symbol of the con- troversies that rock modern man, yet somehow (go) beyond them. In an earlier age, Mich might have become a mythical figure - a religious schismatic or a political criminal marked for exile or execution (5)."The intrigue, dynamism,'and versatility which characterize Illich today are reflective of a life momentum which embraces incessant surprise, change, and growth. Illich was born in 1926 in Vienna of a Croation Catholic father, a wealthy engineer and landowner in prewar Germany, and a Oeehardic Jewish mother whose family had moved to Germany from Spain. During the thirties he was expelled from an Austrian school hecause of his mother's Jewish heritage. Be ti.en continued his education in Italy, later doing research in crystallograp/ly at the University of Florence. By the ege of twenty-four he had. earned, in addition to a doctorate in history from Salshurg University (his dissertation topic vas Toynbee's philosophy of history), degrees in philosophy and theology from the Vatican's prestigious Grer-er3an University. Shortly after his ordination in Pone, Illich turned down the opportunity to pursue further studies at the Collegio di Nohili Fcclesiastici "where gifted linguists ancl intellectuals are rre- pared for high-ranking careers in the Church's diplomatic corps (22)." He chose instead to accept an obscure parish position in an Irish sector of New York City that had been experiencing an influx of Puerto Rican immigrants. One of his first assignments was to learn Spanish (he now speaks eleven languages fluently and reads fifteen). At the close of three weeks' attendance at Berlitz classes and of standing on street corners talking with parishioners, he was conversing fluently.