in Esperanto
Chapter 6: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- EDUCATION
4. Distance learning will be the principle.
4.1. A camp called a school
So far, we have discussed the outline of communist education. Speaking of education, it is a modern international common sense that it is done through the institution called school. As a result, various types of school systems have been prepared in each country, and in countries that claim to be developed countries, it is customary for most young people to be enrolled in some kind of school.
However, something strange is happening at that school. School refusal and bullying problems are central symbols of this. In the first place, a school is a kind of "child detention center" where students are forced to follow a predetermined curriculum and schedule, attend a certain facility called a school, are restricted for a certain period of time, and are prohibited from going out without permission.
The peculiar environment of the camp is known to cause strong stress to humans. The same is true for the camps called schools. Hierarchical relationships between teachers, who are on-site managers of schools, and students, hierarchical relationships between students based on age and grade, and caste relationships among students in the same class form the formation of class relationships within institutions are characteristics of the detention camp system, which is a stress factor for all parties, including faculty and staff.
The most serious of these is the problem of bullying. From the perpetrator's point of view, bullying can be interpreted as a kind of stress relief behavior. And bullying, which discriminates peers with specific characteristics within the school group and rejects them with malicious intent, is nothing but discrimination in the realm of children. Schools, more than homes, are training grounds for such discrimination.
On the other hand, regarding the point of intellectual training, which is emphasized as the utility of the school system, the methodology of school education, which teaches children with various intellectual interests and learning speeds collectively, is by no means effective. Rather, it will continue to produce generations of “dropouts” who cannot keep up with the curriculum every year.
However, in fact, the school system is compatible with communist education, and it may be a leap of logic to lead the abolition of the school system directly from communism, but in modern communism, it can be said that the school system is no longer necessary.
4.2. Towards de-schooling
Modern communism implements de-schooling of education. In other words, communist education is, in principle, provided by distance communication. This bold educational revolution is by no means a pipe dream, and the technological foundation for it is guaranteed by the development of information and communication technology, which is already progressing under capitalism.
In fact, even in capitalist society, distance education has already started in many fields, but correspondence education is only meant to be complementary and supplementary to on-campus school education. The biggest reason for this is the material limitations of capitalist society, which makes it economically extremely difficult to build an inclusive educational communications network that covers all students without omission.
In contrast, in a communist society that does not rely on a monetary economy, the removal of such material limitations is the same as in other fields, and the path to de-schooling is practically opened. In principle, the course of integrated basic education (compulsory education), which will be described later, is also provided with correspondence materials, except for some subjects such as physical education, which are difficult to carry out by correspondence due to their nature. All communication equipment necessary for this purpose will be lent to the public free of charge.
In such a system, the teacher is no longer an instruction manager, but is refined to a learning advisor role. Teachers respond to questions and interviews according to the students' needs, but such face-to-face instruction can also be carried out through communication means such as videophones, so there is no need for either of them to visit.
Even in such a system, it is possible to imagine a "school" conceptually, and in public education, it would be efficient to provide educational services by treating a group of students in each region as a unit. However, this belongs to technical policy.
This kind of distance education is a rule, and there are some exceptions. One of these is the subject that is difficult to provide through the correspondence system mentioned above.
Education for children with disabilities, for which individualized education is indispensable, is also combined with home tutor-type education methods such as home-visit education by specialist teachers.
Practical education is essential for courses offered by multi-purpose colleges or specialized training schools as lifelong education institutions that require practical instruction, as well as advanced professional schools such as medical schools, law schools, and education schools. Due to its nature, it will be a commuting system (however, courses that can be offered by correspondence due to their nature can be individually communicated).
