Stephen Downes

Leigh Blackhall links to Florian Schneider's (Extended) Footnotes On Education, which he calls "one of the most outstanding contemporary readings on the situation in education I have seen in a long time." There's some good thinking in there on deinstitutionalization and commodification of education. Blackall summarizes: "Florian argues that breaking everything down into assessable units drives all skills and knowledge into discrete assessable items that plays into the commodification of learning, and further disenfranchises independent learning."

Completely related, and worth reviewing, from The Innovative Educator (which I quote at length), are Ivan Illich's major works on education:

* Deschooling Society: This book made Ivan Illich famous, arguing that schooling is a model of our centralized consumer society.
- You can download and read the book as a PDF here.
- Review of Deschooling Society.
* Tools for Conviviality: The entire text of another of Illich's most important works, the most general statement of his view about technology. This book helped found the radical technology movement of the 1970s. (PDF format)
* School is Dead: Illich ascribes his interest in public education to Everett Reimer who published his thoughts in a book entitled School is Dead where he outlines his relationship with Illich and the subsequent train of thought that both men pursued.
* Education Without School: How It Can Be Done, NYRB Jan 7, 1971
* Illich speaking on schools. Date Unknown. sideA (13MB mp3) - sideB (12MB mp3)