In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
Ivan IllichRead
In schools, including universities, most resources are spent to purchase the time and motivation of a limited number of people to take up predetermined problems in a ritually defined setting. The most radical alternative to school would be a network or service which gave each man the same opportunity to share his current concern with others motivated by the same concern.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques traditional education systems and suggests a more flexible approach to learning.
Ivan Illich argues that formal education often focuses on a select few individuals addressing predetermined issues within a structured environment. He proposes a radical alternative where individuals can connect and share their concerns in a collaborative network, fostering a more inclusive and relevant learning experience.
Themes
EducationLearningMotivationCollaborationNetwork
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about educational reform, this quote could be used to highlight the need for innovative learning environments.
More from Ivan Illich
All quotes →School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.
Ivan IllichRead
School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught. Once this lesson is learned, people lose their incentive to grow in independence; they no longer find relatedness attractive, and close themselves off to the surprises which life offers when it is not predetermined by institutional definition.
Ivan IllichRead
The pupil is ... 'schooled' to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new.
Ivan IllichRead
The myth of unending consumption has taken the place of the belief in life everlasting.
Ivan IllichRead
Effective health care depends on self-care; this fact is currently heralded as if it were a discovery.
Ivan IllichRead
Similar quotes
Going back to my film education, I always have that voice in my head that's always screaming, 'Sell out!' And that's good: you want that, because it keeps you on your toes, and it's important to remember what's actually important.
Damien ChazelleRead
Therefore only through education does one come to be dissatisfied with his own knowledge, and only through teaching others does one come to realize the uncomfortable inadequacy of his knowledge. Being dissatisfied with his own knowledge, one then realizes that the trouble lies with himself, and realizing the uncomfortable inadequacy of his knowledger.
ConfuciusRead
Let us in education dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity
Thomas JeffersonRead
When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation. The content of that dialogue can and should vary in accordance with historical conditions and the level at which the oppressed perceive reality.
Paulo FreireRead
I asked questions when I was a stripling, and it is not my business to ask questions now, but to teach people what I have discovered.
Apollonius Of TyanaRead