“We have all learned most of what we know outside school. Pupils do most of their learning without, and often despite, their teachers.” I don’t know how many people will agree with the statements above. Ivan Illich wrote that 4 decades ago in his deservedly celebrated book, Deschooling Society . He argued that “Everyone learns how to live outside school. We learn to speak, to think, to love, to feel, to play, to curse, to politick and to work without interference from a teacher. Even children who are under a teacher’s care day and night are no exception to the rule.” I am a teacher who has been working in an exclusively residential school for over a decade. I won’t disagree with Illich. Of late, my mind which is normally logical is flooded with fantasies. The fantasies are all about a dream school that I would like to open. A school where children will be free to bloom without constraints imposed by systems. Play, sleep, eat, and let children do what
Cerebrate and Celebrate