Ivan Illich said this quote

“ The first enslaving illusion is the idea that people are born to be consumers and that they can attain any of their goals by purchasing goods and services....What people do or make but will not or cannot put up for sale is as immeasurable and as invaluable for the economy as the oxygen they breathe. ”

Famous Quotes of Ivan Illich

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School has become the world religion of a modernized proletariat, and makes futile promises of salvation to the poor of the technological age.

~ Ivan Illich

Ivan Illich Anarchism Deschooling Society Education Ivan Illich Pedagogic Philosophy Pedagogy School

School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.

~ Ivan Illich

Ivan Illich Education Homeschool Homeschooling

We are the witnesses of a barely perceptible transformation in ordinary language: verbs which formerly expressed satisfying actions have been replaced by nouns which name packages designed for passive consumption only -- 'to learn' becomes 'to accumulate credits'.

~ Ivan Illich

Ivan Illich Consumption Education Educational Philosophy Language Learning Satisfaction

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 where they listen to people rather than to stars, speakers, or instructors. All over the world, one can see the rapid encroachment of the disciplined acquiescence that characterizes the audience, the client, the customer.

~ Ivan Illich

Ivan Illich Affluence Children Conformity Education Isolation Nonconformity Play