--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: School prepares for the alienating…" description: "\"School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.\" — Ivan Illich" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png" --- # School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of… ![“School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” quote by Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png) > “School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education often mirrors society's tendency to institutionalize life, teaching dependence on formal instruction rather than self-directed learning. **In simple terms:** School teaches dependence on formal. Key Takeaway Question the need for formal teaching. Themes education institutionalization autonomy Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - online courses - skill workshops - parental teaching - career training Key Concepts critical pedagogy self-directed learning Questions to Reflect On - What can you learn without a teacher? - How does institutionalization affect freedom? A Different Perspective Formal systems can limit creativity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alienating Institutionalization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alienating-institutionalization-3935248/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Need Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/need-taught-559275/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Prepares Alienating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prepares-alienating-3935250/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [School Prepares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school-prepares-1458440/) [Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taught/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Teaching Need](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching-need-3540457/) [Unschooling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unschooling/) ## Related quotes > [School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught. Once this lesson is learned, people lose their incentive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of-life-by-2/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“School prepares people for the alienating institutionalization of life, by teaching the necessity of being taught. Once this lesson is learned, people loose their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-people-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [In government institutions and in teaching, you need to inspire confidence. To achieve credibility, you have to very clearly explain what you are doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-yellen/in-government-institutions-and-in-teaching-you-need-to-inspire/) [Janet Yellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-yellen/) > [There are some people that say I need to be more academic in my teaching, I need to be more disciple developing focus, probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/there-are-some-people-that-say-i-need-to-be-more-academic-in-my/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [Schools teach the need to be taught.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/schools-teach-the-need-to-be-taught/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“With homework, school prepares students for overtime. With reports, it prepares them for payday.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/with-homework-school-prepares-students-for-overtime-with-reports-it/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [School prepares you for the real world... which also bites.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-benton/school-prepares-you-for-the-real-world-which-also-bites/) [Jim Benton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-benton/) > [“School prepares you for the real world but I want the fake world. TEEHEE”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-benton/school-prepares-you-for-the-real-world-but-i-want-the-fake-world/) [Jim Benton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-benton/) > [Learning from programmed information always hides reality behind a screen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/learning-from-programmed-information-always-hides-reality-behind-a/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Americans also don't need to be taught how to give. We don't need to be taught how to take care of each other or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-beck/americans-also-don-t-need-to-be-taught-how-to-give-we-don-t-need-to/) [Glenn Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-beck/) > [No one needs to teach you to be mean; we need to be taught to be kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-giovanni/no-one-needs-to-teach-you-to-be-mean-we-need-to-be-taught-to-be-kind/) [Nikki Giovanni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-giovanni/) > [We don't need to be taught to make art, but sometimes we need permission to do so. Following instructions is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/we-don-t-need-to-be-taught-to-make-art-but-sometimes-we-need/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [Investment students need only two well-taught courses - How to Value a Business and How to Think About Market Prices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-buffett/investment-students-need-only-two-well-taught-courses-how-to-value-a/) [Warren Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-buffett/) > [Most Saiyans are born with a talent for battle, but they still need to be taught the trick behind flying and stuff like that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akira-toriyama/most-saiyans-are-born-with-a-talent-for-battle-but-they-still-need-to/) [Akira Toriyama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akira-toriyama/) > [There are always people doing things wrong who need to be taught, for their own good. That's doable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-turner/there-are-always-people-doing-things-wrong-who-need-to-be-taught-for/) [Kathleen Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-turner/) ## More by Ivan Illich > [“Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/universal-education-through-schooling-is-not-feasible-it-would-be-no/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The re-establishment of an ecological balance depends on the ability of society to counteract the progressive materialization of values. The ecological balance cannot be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-re-establishment-of-an-ecological-balance-depends-on-the-ability/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The new experience that has replaced dignified suffering is artificially prolonged, opaque, depersonalized maintenance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-new-experience-that-has-replaced-dignified-suffering-is/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Losses of a kind of satisfaction that have no market equivalent don't show up in the calculations of economists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/losses-of-a-kind-of-satisfaction-that-have-no-market-equivalent-don-t/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Schools are designed on the assumption that there is a secret to everything in life; that the quality of life depends upon knowing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/schools-are-designed-on-the-assumption-that-there-is-a-secret-to/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The State shall make no law with respect to the establishment of education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-state-shall-make-no-law-with-respect-to-the-establishment-of/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [What kinds of things and people might learners want to be in contact with in order to learn?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/what-kinds-of-things-and-people-might-learners-want-to-be-in-contact/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The pupil is ... 'schooled' to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-pupil-is-schooled-to-confuse-teaching-with-learning-grade/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [To deschool means to abolish the power of one person to oblige another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/to-deschool-means-to-abolish-the-power-of-one-person-to-oblige-another/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Societies in which most people depend for most of their goods and services on the personal whim, kindness, or skill of another are called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/societies-in-which-most-people-depend-for-most-of-their-goods-and/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“P3- modernised poverty combines the lack of power over circumstances with a loss of personal potency”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/p3-modernised-poverty-combines-the-lack-of-power-over-circumstances/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“Today, one must either be isolated and cut off, or a carefully guarded, affluent drop-out, to allow one's children to play in an environment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/today-one-must-either-be-isolated-and-cut-off-or-a-carefully-guarded/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [The household became the place where the consumption of wages takes place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/the-household-became-the-place-where-the-consumption-of-wages-takes/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [Man must choose whether to be rich in things or in the freedom to use them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/man-must-choose-whether-to-be-rich-in-things-or-in-the-freedom-to-use/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) > [“Welfare bureaucracies claim a professional, political, and financial monopoly over the social imagination, setting standards of what is valuable and what is feasible. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/welfare-bureaucracies-claim-a-professional-political-and-financial/) [Ivan Illich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) [Explore all 122 Ivan Illich quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/) ## More Education quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) [Ted Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-martinez/) > [“In school you are taught to obey and not to think straight for your own good. 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But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [There's no authoritarian structure at Reed College, but the education is conservative. So what you have is a lot of students who are very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/there-s-no-authoritarian-structure-at-reed-college-but-the-education/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [“What's the best thing about being in college? Good teachers. They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/what-s-the-best-thing-about-being-in-college-good-teachers-they/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [“If one has not a head of steel it will burst; if he has not within it a brain of liquid quicksilver, he will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ioannes-amos-commenius/if-one-has-not-a-head-of-steel-it-will-burst-if-he-has-not-within-it/) [Ioannes Amos Commenius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ioannes-amos-commenius/) > [“let us not teach / what we have learned badly / and not profited by”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-d-hilda-doolittle/let-us-not-teach-what-we-have-learned-badly-and-not-profited-by/) [H.D. (Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-d-hilda-doolittle/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [According to Plato, we don't learn anything. Our soul has lived so many lives that we know everything. Teachers and education can only remind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/according-to-plato-we-don-t-learn-anything-our-soul-has-lived-so-many/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“I only began to enjoy studying after I got through the educational system and became a so-called member of society. If something interested me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-only-began-to-enjoy-studying-after-i-got-through-the-educational/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [How wonderful it would be, I thought, if only we could practice the teachings of the Buddha as he really taught them from his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/how-wonderful-it-would-be-i-thought-if-only-we-could-practice-the/) [Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/) > [English teachers tend to put more thought in the books than the author did](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/english-teachers-tend-to-put-more-thought-in-the-books-than-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When will society, like a mother, take care of all her children?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-mann/when-will-society-like-a-mother-take-care-of-all-her-children/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-mann/) [Browse all 37,666 Education quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ivan Illich" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of-life-by/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Education" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of-life-by/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/44e/ivan-illich-3546_education_school-prepares-for-the-alienating-insti_1590353.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” — Ivan Illich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ivan Illich", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-illich/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "School prepares for the alienating institutionalization...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of-life-by/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-illich/school-prepares-for-the-alienating-institutionalization-of-life-by/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```