“A good educational system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with access to available resources at any time in their lives; empower all who want to share what they know to find those who want to learn it from them; and, finally, furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with the opportunity to make their challenge known. … It should use modern technology to make free speech, free assembly, and a free press truly universal and, therefore, fully educational.” – Ivan Illich
In Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich spoke of a system he felt would help society disconnect from its dependence on schools. He rejected the idea of relying on an elite few allowed to teach and control the people. Instead, Illich proposed ideas for making society a more supportive learning environment. His system focuses on networks (learning webs) that promote learning in ways that make it more relevant and more accessible. Illich spoke of how technology could be put to use in his system:
- “The operation of a peer-matching network would be simple. The user would identify himself by name and address and describe the activity for which he sought a peer. A computer would send him back the names and addresses of all those who had inserted the same description. It is amazing that such a simple utility has never been used on a broad scale for publicly valued activity.”
In a decade when it was little more than a concept, Ivan Illich had effectively described the internet. The internet might not fit every term of his proposal, but it fits the role all the same. Read Deschooling Society’s chapter on learning webs here.
In the past 20 years, the internet has revolutionized communication, news, and marketing, and affects the everyday lives of people all across the globe. It’s created a world wide peer network that can communicate in seconds. Because of the internet, a wealth of information is now accessible to billions. It’s the perfect tool for self-directed education, and that is exactly the kind of activity the internet promotes.
A recent infographic analyzed the searches and amount of information that went through Google search. The numbers are staggering: 87.8 billion searches go through Google a month. That’s almost 90 billion requests for information. People are learning on the internet every day.
The internet isn’t perfect: anyone can have a website, and say whatever they want. However, the same can be said of publications outside of the internet. There is always a responsibility held by the reader (or viewer, or listener) to process the information they receive, and question it. The lies that cause us not to trust everything we hear should make us more resourceful, not fearful. Instead of being fed information we do not question, we’re able to form our own judgments and are encouraged to find more than one source of information.
Organizations, universities, publications, hobbyists, and entrepreneurs around the world have given us all the information we would ever need, in an accessible way. The internet has a resource out there for anything you would ever need to know, and you can find what you need through a simple search box.
I consider the internet an invaluable resource. It has brought thousands of things to my attention that I would’ve otherwise been unaware of: documentaries, movies, books, people, history, philosophies. Without the internet, I wouldn’t have the self-education community I do.
How has the internet helped you?
“If the networks I have described could emerge, the educational path of each student would be his own to follow, and only in retrospect would it take on the features of a recognizable program. The wise student would periodically seek professional advice: assistance to set a new goal, insight into difficulties encountered, choice between possible methods.” – Ivan Illich
