deschooling

The notion proposed by Ivan Illich in his book Deschooling Society (1973) that formal schooling should be abolished. Children and adults should learn from each other outside the structure of an institutionalized education system.

Deschooling is a term used by both education philosophers and proponents of alternative education and/or homeschooling, which refers to different things in each context.

Philosophically, it refers to the belief that schools and other learning institutions are incapable of providing the best possible education for some or most individuals.

Practical alternatives arising in place of institutionalized learning have been free schools, unschooling at home and forming networks with other deschooling families and individuals.

In a practical context, it refers to the mental process a person goes through after being removed from a formal schooling environment, when the "school mindset" is eroded over time. It is typically used to describe children who have been removed from school for the purpose of self-directed homeschooling, but technically applies any person leaving school, either by dropping out or graduating. Deschooling refers the time period it takes for child removed from school to adjust to learning in an unstructured environment. Families who have taken their children out of school to homeschool often find their children need a period of adjustment- learning to live without the reinforcement of grading and regimented learning.