Education in the 21st Century: A Deschooling / Reschooling Process?
Pink Floyd in the 70s in the epic album ‘the wall’ came out with the famous lyrics sung by children ‘we don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control.’ Delving a bit into the lyrics and the history of Roger Waters, the lead vocalist of the band, one realizes that this was a protest song pushing for social reform along the schooling domain. It was antagonistic towards rigid schooling prevalent in the Western hemisphere, primarily in the U.K. and the U.S. The deromanticizing of education was made all the more potent by reference to tyrannical teachers and pedantic pedagogy. Considering that education was merely ‘another brick in the wall’, the poignant lyrics of the song should have been an obvious reminder to educationists the world over. Intriguingly, also in the 70s, an energizing and exciting discourse on the deschooling of society was ongoing in Latin America. This was led by Ivan Illich (1926-2002) an Austrian by birth, who obtained formal training in philosophy...