Libertarian and Anarchist Education: Key Figures and Principles
The terms “libertarian” and “anarchist” are often considered synonymous in everyday life. In the field of education, libertarian guidance advocates for absolute freedom for the student. In practice, libertarian ideology rejects authoritarian behavior and gives children the full range of options, eliminating the adult’s imposition of their will. The libertarian movement refuses state initiative in education.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Leo Tolstoy was born into a noble family at the paternal farm of Yasnaya Polyana and received an education according to his social status. Before creating his estate school at Yasnaya Polyana, he took a journey through Europe to meet contemporary educational trends and observe the school organization and methods used. However, he returned from the trip disappointed. He only showed favor to the school and method of Pestalozzi.
The Yasnaya Polyana school was founded as an alternative to the traditional Russian teaching being taught at that time. For about four years, Tolstoy gave free classes to the children of farmers. This school was based on the fundamental principle of freedom. The students had the most comprehensive freedom to attend explanations or not, or to attend a class or not. They did not have duties, nor did they have to use books or papers. They also did not have exams. The master ceased to be the center of the educational process and became a coordinator or arbitrator, basing his operation on the motivation of students based on their interests and needs. Tolstoy distinguished between instruction and education. For him, schools should deal with registered investigation because education is a family matter only. Tolstoy’s pedagogical thought was libertarian.
Paul Robin (1837-1912)
Paul Robin, a French professor, was born into a bourgeois and pious family. He committed suicide in 1912. In 1880, he was named director of the Orphanage of Cempuis, where he put into practice the concept of integral education under the scheme of coeducation of the sexes. It was considered the first educational center organized by the anarchist ideology.
Essential principles of thought and practice at Cempuis were intellectual education, physical education for military purposes, and technical education based on productive work. Classes, if possible, were given outdoors. Hygiene and cleaning were essential. Despite being a school of anarchist approaches, it applied a rigid discipline. For Robin, science and work would liberate the world. To take from the bourgeoisie the monopoly of science, a social revolution and the organization of comprehensive investigation were necessary.
Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1859-1909)
Francisco Ferrer Guardia was born in Alella, Barcelona, and died executed in 1909, as the defendant called the main instigator of the “Tragic Week.” In 1901, a wealthy widow who had been his student died and left him an important legacy that he dedicated to creating the Modern School, for children during the day and for adults at night. For Ferrer, the Modern School’s mission is to make children become educated, truthful, fair, and free from prejudice. For this, dogmatic study should be replaced by the observation of the natural sciences.
Characteristics of the Modern School
- The child is free, even to leave the school.
- Students enjoy wide freedom of movement: going to the board, consulting books, leaving class when they like.
- No exams, rewards, or punishments.
Ferrer rejects competition and testing and urges children to do crafts, gardening, cleaning, and domestic work, as a place for both sexes at the same level. The Modern School of Barcelona was not free. Adopting a compensation system to accommodate the economic circumstances of the parents, Ferrer did not want it as a school for the poor, but a school that would lead to the coeducation of the poor and the rich.
His last words to the execution squad were: “Long live the Modern School!“
A.S. Neill (1883-1973)
A.S. Neill, a Scottish pedagogue, expressed wide confidence in the nature of the child and the whole of humanity. It is society (the school and family) that affects their conduct. The purpose of education must be to teach people how to live, to prepare children for a happy life.
For Neill, the Summerhill school was the happiest. “More than a school, it is a way of life in community.” Its basic components were the self and psychoanalysis. Freedom and anti-authoritarianism were the most determining features. Children could do what they wanted as long as it did not encroach on the freedom of others.
Both were fundamental principles of self-regulation at Summerhill, understood as a synthesis of freedom and the self, and self-government (the children themselves set the rules and ensured they were accomplished).
At Summerhill, secondary education was optional. There were no academic degrees or grades. Students whose decision was to attend class received traditional instruction.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
Carl Rogers, an American psychologist, had psychotherapy as his core business. He based his ideology on the critique of the university education system. His theory is based on not directly promoting freedom of choice and personal choice, avoiding excessive educator involvement. Learning that can only influence conduct is that which the individual discovers and accepts for themselves.
The key procedure is that students take responsibility for their learning. To educate is not to teach, but to learn. Learning can only be done when the student expresses a desire to learn, so trying to teach those who have no interest is income and makes no sense. Assessment plays an important role. Only the student will be able to evaluate the learning process. This kind of assessment positively motivates the student and helps them feel more accountable.
Everything, both in therapy and in learning, is based on freedom of action, on autonomy, on personal research, and, ultimately, on the self.