To keimeno auto graftike sta plaisia enos workshop pou egine sti Germania me thema tin ararxiki ekpaideusi. To keimeno einai eisagwgiko kathws graftike me skopo na dwsei se olous osous itan ekei mia idea gia to thema.
ANARCHIST EDUCATION
"Our major threat today is the worldwide monopoly in the domination of human's minds".
Everret Reimer
The role of education within the society is directly related with the model of each society. Education
provided by the different institutions (schools, universities, etc.) is not neutral. It provides the necessary knowledges and skills which individuals will use later for the dynamic conservation of the social system and its standards. Even though educational structures and methodologies have been modernized and escaped the conservative way of teaching, the core of education is still the same: the teaching system aims at teaching the system.
Schools represent an authoritative mechanism that disciplines students and reproduces the hierarchical structures of the society. In summary, school is an institution that:
Represents the mechanism by which children are assimilated in the dominant ideology.
Reproduces hierarchies and divisions among the children (smart-stupid, studious-lazy, etc.)
Legitimizes the hierarchies in the labor market (workers, supervisors, bosses, etc.)
Homogenizes children's thinking.
Eliminates free thinking and action.
Creates competition among children through ratings and tests.
Alienates children from nature.
Pre-determines the knowledge given to the children without considering children's individual interests.
The story of education and its role is not a new subject and criticism and actions against it have their roots in the beginnings of the 20th century. Anarchists philosophers and pedagogues tried
to influence education practices with anarchist ideas, mostly based on the freedom of the person and her/his release from government and religious shackles. Today, there are many examples of democratic and free schools which were influenced by anarchists ideas on education, but few of them are actually based in the anarchy theory. Free education has many similarities with anarchist education on a practical level, such as there is not a strict time-table and study program, children are free to select their subjects, they can leave any time they want, there is no hierarchy between teachers and students, no grades and tests, and the most important children learn by doing. The differences are based on the political dimension of education. For example, free schools are based on democratic processes for making decisions (majority over minority), while for anarchists this is not acceptable and they support that a decision must be taken collectively when all members reach in agreement. Thus, everyone's opinion is heard, discussed and influence the decision making. Democratic processes are not a choice for anarchists and it can be used only as a last resort in decision making. Also, free schools support that children should build their own values without influencing them with certain political ideas, while for anarchists education is a mean to influence children with anti-hierarchical, anti-military, anti-capitalist and anti-authoritative ideas. Free schools are common in nowadays and their acceptance from the society is wider. The opportunities of functioning a free school are much more than functioning an anarchist based education schools. One of the most famous free schools is Summerhill which functions for more than 80 years and it was created by Alexander Sutherland Neil.
Anarchist education, practically appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Spain. Francisco Ferrer, an anarchist activist became interested in the free education methodologies proposed by Paul Robin and Jean Grave and in 1901 he established the first modern school (based on the theory of anarchy) in Barcelona. Ferrer's modern school (Escuela Moderna) was a mixed school; boys and girls, rich and poor. In addition, it was completely disconnected from the church which during that time had a dominant role in the education system, students were able to go and leave the school at any time, there were no strict time schedules as well as no grades, punishments, exams or any kind of comments that could lead to discrimination between the students. He did not reject the concept of learning through the books, but he was focused on learning by doing. That is why the children would have a lot of practical lessons and a lot of field excursions. The school had not a neutral political character. The children were encouraged to appreciate comrade-ship, collaboration and social justice, and through their learning children would develop anti-military, anti-state and anti-capitalist feelings. This is the reason why some elites criticized Ferrer's schools to be dogmatic. The Escuela moderna expanded in a few years throughout all Spain and other european
cities, making it a powerful tool against governments, especially in Spain which that time had a very
conservative regime. This led to the execution of Francisco Ferrer by the spanish government and the end of Ferrer's modern schools in Spain. Today, there are some anarchist schools in Spain but one of the greatest examples is "Paideia - Escuela Libre" in Merida, a town of around 50,000 people in the province of Extremadura, South-West Spain. It was created in 1977 by a collective of
anarchists teachers, child psychologists, pedagogues and others. The school began as a pre-school, and in the mid-80's extended; it's currently for kids from 2-15 years. Their philosophy is based on Ferrer's modern school without actively preach anarchism but rather operate the school according to anarchist values. The older kids have a very deep understanding of the school's conceptions of freedom, respect, justice etc. and aim to live by these values freely because they see how well they work and experience how good it can feel. The school receives its money through donations from individuals and groups from Spain and around the world, as well as working unions of the region. Families are charged with 150 euros/month which includes all materials, books, food, a bus each way and the schooling. No kids are refused because their families can't pay, however some wealthier families pay extra to cover this and sometimes a family works out a payment schedule. Children can stay there as long as they want but if they want to receive a higher-specialized education they have to go to a conventional school for two years and from there they can enter in universities. There is an assembly once per week where children and teachers discuss different topics concerning the school or their interdisciplinary relationships. Decisions are taken collectively and they always try to reach in consensus but sometimes they vote when the discussion takes a long time. Assemblies can also be in smaller groups for specific issues, thus affecting fewer people and the community in general.
Anarchy is the only theory that clearly denies the role of state and authority. This is the reason why
states keep this theory well hidden and creates in people's minds a kind of fear and fuzziness around
it, and this could be a major reason why anarchist education is difficult to be applied. But, the theory of anarchy is centered in the freedom of each individual from any kind of oppressive bond, and supports that if every individual is physically and mentally free then there is hope for self-organized societies where individuals could collectively function through mutual respect and mutual help.