Part 14 of 19 in Why Schools are Broken: and How to Fix Them← Part 13Part 15 →
This chapter explains education as growing into adult responsibilities within a community, rather than simply attending school. It helps parents consider how community activities, trusted adults, reading, practical work, and AI can support learning.
- Education means growing up in a community and gradually taking on adult responsibilities.
- Schooling can support education, but it can also isolate young people from meaningful community activities.
- Indian communities have farms, businesses, festivals, elderly people, and local problems that can involve young people.
- Parents can reclaim time by reducing unnecessary school attendance where legally possible and protecting evenings and weekends from tuition.
- Children may learn through reading, working with adults, asking questions, and using AI to fill knowledge gaps.
Goodman’s deepest point was that education is not the same as schooling. Education is the process by which a young person grows up inside a community that has worthwhile things to do, and gradually takes on adult responsibilities. Schooling is merely one institutional arrangement that sometimes helps and often hinders this process.
In India, many communities still have worthwhile things to do: farms that need tending, small businesses that need help, festivals that need organising, elderly people who need company, local problems that need solving. The tragedy is that we have organised childhood and adolescence so that young people spend most of their waking hours isolated from these activities, inside buildings designed for processing rather than for growing.
Reclaiming Time and Trust
Parents who want something better must reclaim time. This may mean negotiating with schools for reduced attendance where legally possible, or simply protecting evenings and weekends from tuition. It means trusting that a child who reads widely, works alongside adults, asks questions, and uses AI to fill knowledge gaps will often learn more than a child who scores high marks in a narrow curriculum.
It also means trusting other adults in the community. Not every skilled person is a certified teacher, yet many can teach valuable things. Goodman’s decentralised vision depends on this broader trust.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between education and schooling?
Education is how a young person grows up within a community and takes on adult responsibilities. Schooling is one institutional arrangement that may help or hinder this process.
How can children learn outside school?
Children can read widely, work alongside adults, ask questions, participate in community activities, and use AI to fill knowledge gaps.
Why should parents protect evenings and weekends from tuition?
Protecting this time can help parents reclaim time for learning and community involvement instead of allowing childhood and adolescence to be dominated by tuition.
Who can teach children valuable things?
Skilled people in the community can teach valuable things even when they are not certified teachers.