From: "Andy" <as-AT-spelthorne.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Self education
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 14:27:56 +0100




> I'm curious: how did you become self-educated, those
> of you who did?  Did you just read, or was there a
> process of learning, such as taking notes on what you
> read, etc.?  How long did it take before you reached
> the point you are currently standing at?  At what
> intensity did the learning take place (meaning how
> long was each session, how intent, etc.)?
>
> Thanks,
> Dustin

I can't really speak for others, but I would guess that most of us are both
educated and self-educated, in that we've been in formal educational
settings and informal ones. At certain stages in life, the hitherto
self-educated may wish to enter education programmes and take from them
what's on offer - after all, its conveniently packaged and once you've
sussed the course leader's value system, you can adjust accordingly. However
no-one is entirely self educated - there are parents, peers, the Simpsons
etc etc.

Then again what you learn from formal education is not always what you are
taught. I went to an old established state grammar school. It was rigidly
selective and had a tradition that went back to Henry VIII [school
documented] and back to the 13th century through other records.
Paradoxically the school was very tolerant in terms of the attitudes of
staff. Many had entered teaching after WWvers2.0, and had a commitment to
public education, the welfare state and socialism in various forms. One old
boy who scared me shitless - a decorated former soldier and social
geographer - surprisingly revealed himself to be a passionate opponent of
apartheid.

Most of my class mates were however comfortable and complacent middle-class.
At  about 14 years of age in 1967, I was the only socialist in my class. I
had some very forthright discussions particularly in History, and was
encouraged to research left politics by an enthusiastic one nation
conservative who read everything I wrote. Then, the same year, student
radicalism really took off. Some of us [there were more socialists now it
was chic] strolled up to Essex University and helped with general barricade
erecting and light revolutionary duties in our free time. There were "teach
ins" where everyone ignored lectures and indulged in mainly asinine
polemics. But I got to hear maoists, trots, anarchists, stalinists, liberals
and syndicalists. Plus the Edgar Broughton Band and the Pink Fairies.Some
were messianic some were thoughtful. we went back to school and organised a
conference on the Cultural Revolution, abolished the powers of prefects [big
deal], and set about making sure our voices were heard. Meanwhile I did
Maths and French etc etc as well. Then we all went to university.

So my school was sort of inverse to how Illich would have it - on the
surface it was authoritarian with rigid subject boundaries, underneath [the
hidden curriculum] it in parts allowed and even encouraged creativity and
self development. The school is not like that now though - New Labour's
league tables have turned into an exam factory.

Then you just read stuff, do stuff  and apply it - Dave Coull about a year
ago said in a post that he did not doubt that many of us could make any
topic relevant to anarchism. The thing is, it's as much a way of looking at
things as a learning experience. That may be what the old boys and girls
used to mean when they called it a tendency - maybe not.

I've been educated by teachers and I've educated myself, the latter by
actively seeking out what I fancied.  But you  only take notes when you've
got some external constraint such as an exam or publication deadline.