Education Outside the System (Part 2) : Alfie Kohn on the Troubling Conformity in Schools

In this three-part feature, honouring the UN International Day of Education, Dr. Paul Salvatori—alongside podcasts guests—explores the nature of genuine learning, how it can happen outside the conventional educational system and ways it is both empowering for both the individual and community.

In the feature’s first discussion, Dr. Paul talks with Irish professor, Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons, about the value of “community education”, while addressing how it, as a force for social and political change—has unfortunately been undermined by “professionals”—disconnected from the grassroots level. In the feature’s second discussion, Dr. Paul talks with American educational researcher and critic, Alfie Kohn, about the problem of “rewards” in the school system and how that both reinforces obedience to authority and discourages independent learning. Finally, in the third discussion of the feature, Dr. Paul talks with American activist, author and lawyer, Dean Spade, about the value and potential to learn from one another through mutual aid, based on consensus-building, and that operates outside traditional systems of power.

Learn more about each of the three guests of this feature, including their recent work and publications by clicking on their names:

• Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons
• Alfie Kohn
• Dean Spade

***

CREDITS

Producer - Dr. Paul Salvatori

Writer & Host - Dr. Paul Salvatori

Sound Editor - Peter Bull

Music - Dr. Paul Salvatori