QUESTIONS ON IVAN ILLICH'S DESCHOOLING SOCIETY -- CHAPTER 1

Total points possible: 700.

DO NOT USE ANY DIRECT QUOTES FROM THE TEXT AT ALL. Explain it all in your own words.

1. Ivan Illich talks about a process he calls being "schooled." This is a term he makes up. He says there is a distinction to be made between two very different notions: Process and Substance.
   
   In the first few paragraphs he lists these as examples of the distinction.
   
   

   PROCESS--------------------------------------------SUBSTANCE
   
   teaching------------------------------------------------learning
   
   grade advancement------------------------------------education
   
   diploma------------------------------------------------competency
   
   fluency---------------------------------------------------saying something new
   
   service-------------------------------------------------value
   
   medical treatment--------------------------------------health care
   
   social work--------------------------------------------improvement of community life
   
   police protection--------------------------------------safety
   
   military poise------------------------------------------national security
   
   rat race--------------------------------------------------productive work
   
   

   (10 points each: total 50 points possible) Add 5 more such pairs which you find IN THE PAPER and made by Illich himself.
   
   
2. Illich uses the term "deschooling," but he is not talking about schools.
   
   This is just the paradigm, his main example, of the process of what he calls being schooled up. The problem is seen in: education, family life, politics, security, faith and communications.
   
   (10 points each: total 50 points possible) Give you OWN EXAMPLES of pairs which Illich does not himself give in the paper. You must give 5 such pairs.
   
   
3. (100 points) What does "deschooling" mean. No more than 50 words. Absolute.
   
   
4. On page 7 he gives three possible reasons why school might fail. He accepts one and he rejects the other two.
   1. (20 points each: total 40 points possible) Of the two he rejects what is the main reason (for each) which he gives to support the claim that the school fails.
      No more than 50 words for EACH of the two.
      
   2. (20 points each: total 40 points possible) For the one he accepts, explain why he accepts it.
      No more than 50 words.
      
      
5. Illich would add 2 new fundamental constitutional amendments to the U.S. Constitution in order to "deschool" the society.
   
   1. (40 points each: total possible 80 points) In 50 words or less for EACH, explain the two.
   2. (40 points) What would he expect each to achieve? That is, how would each "deschool" the society on his view? Explain this in 50 words or less.
   
   
   
6. On edu-credits.
   1. (50 points) What are they?
   2. (50 points) How do they differ from state-funded schools?
   3. (100 points) Why does he favor them? (100 words or fewer.)
   
   
   
7. In modern educational theory it is popular to attack the notion of learning by drill -- such things as reciting multiplication tables, memorizing poetry, or drills in vocabulary or doing verb conjugations -- but, Illich DEFENDS some notions of drill training.
   
   1. (40 points) When is drill training a useful tool on his view?
   2. (60 points) Why does he hold this? (100 words or fewer).

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