 |
Léo's InsightsLanguage: en-us Genres: Education, Kids & Family Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
#7 Unschooling – What is School?
Tuesday, 25 November, 2025
The “best” dictionary definition of school is: “An institution or place where people, typically students, are educated, instructed, and taught, often by teachers, to acquire knowledge, skills, and understanding to function in society.” At first brush, this definition seems to be accurate and non-threatening. However, it may be a good idea to look into the history of compulsory education before coming to any foregone conclusions about what school was and what it has come to be. Like many modern institutions, the school concept has its roots in Christianity. Although I am not sure how things came to be, Sunday school was initially a class held either before or after a church service to help parents to teach their children to read. An old Catholic order called the Jesuits was among the first to create day schools but they had an ulterior motive. They wanted to entice children of Lutheran families back to the Catholic fold, as their parents could not be convinced to do so during the reformation period. They knew they would have a better chance with children than adults, and they continue to this day as proselytizers of the Catholic doctrine. An interesting aside about this school – other than the fact that parents volunteered to have their children attend – is that the mostly illiterate students started attending after puberty. They learned much, much more than what is learned in our modern twelve-year schooling program, and they were ready for seminary, college or university in less than three years. Makes one question how the twelve years to certification ever got started and why it continues to exist. Compulsory education was not really a thing until the mid 1800s. It was started in Prussia (now Germany) to instill military-style compliance in students. This was obviously successful when one considers this country started both the first and second World Wars. Seeing that the early compulsory schools in Germany were successful, American industrial capitalists brought the concept to the United States, even going so far as to fund it so they could create a compliant workforce to man their factories. This was not initially accepted by parents who wanted to maintain their agrarian, family lifestyle, but eventually school came to be a desired institution. At this point, the government got involved. The initial Sunday schools were dedicated institutions of learning, however the Jesuits, Germans, American industrialists and governments all had a different objective in providing school: universal compliance toward something. Making it compulsory greatly increased the potential for achieving this goal. This begs the question: what could be the compliance goals of modern schools? https://eu-wp-media.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/10/7-what-is-school.mp3
