culture

Reading Colin Ward
by Francesco Codello

We publish a paper architect, urban planner English intellectual and anarchist, who died recently. The next issues others will see the light. This time the topic is education..

 

«As you would react to the discovery that the company where you would actually live there now (...) if not taken into account, of course, some little trouble as exploitation, war, dictatorship and people dying of hunger? This book does just prove that an anarchist society, a society that organizes itself without authority, has always existed, like a seed beneath the snow, buried under the weight of the state and bureaucracy, capitalism and its waste, privilege and injustices, nationalism and loyalty of his suicide, religion and superstitions and their separations. (Colin Ward, Anarchy in Action (1973) Time: Anarchy as an organization, Eleuthera, Milano, 2006).
This account is contained perhaps the most appropriate summary of the thought of Colin Ward (1924-2010), English anarchist, urban planner, educator, journalist, activist, sociologist, but also an extraordinary person.
His approach to anarchism is characterized by discounting the classical libertarian thought (especially of Peter Kropotkin) and the use of a large body of contemporary studies in different fields of knowledge, according to an empirical and pragmatic vision, but a well-anchored set of values indispensable guide.
In the wake of the approach Kropotkin his main concern is to find traces of anarchism that already exist, albeit suppressed by authoritarian societies existing links, so feel free to identify with this view expressed by Paul Goodman, "A free society can not be the imposition of a "new order" in place of the old man is the broadening of the scope of autonomous action until they occupy a large part of social life ... In any modern society, in spite of continued growth and uniform coercion, there are still many open spaces. If not, resulting in a libertarian would be entirely possible to work or live, when in fact we "draw the line 'all the time: a threshold beyond which we are no longer willing to cooperate" (Reflectionss on Drawing the Line in: Political Essays, New York, 1946).
All his works and his practical activity, both at work and in terms of more strictly military, will be held following these guidelines in many areas of social and community life.
One of his works were translated into Italian (thanks to the commendable work Eleuthera) and we have been able to achieve the essential plot of his thought. But with this work, starting from this edition, we intend to present to readers in other contributions, perhaps never translated, which can expand our ability to know his thoughts..

As Paul Goodman and Ivan Illich

The first essay published here is that of education and its vision of the environment as an educational qualifying each report. "Places where you learn" is the text of a conference held in 1987 by Ward at the Department of Architecture at MIT in Boston, which is one of the chapters of his book, unusual in Italy, "Talking Schools" (Freedom Press, London , 1995).
His interest in educational issues is constant throughout the course of life and is often included even when it addresses issues such as the architecture in this case, apparently not relevant to these issues.
"Each of us was a child, most of us became a parent, while an incredible number of us becomes in one way or another, in a moment of our lives, a teacher. As a result many of us are a kind of philosophy of education. But a number of teachers do not. They do not teach the techniques that theoretically should have learned in college but in the ways that they themselves had suffered at school '(Influences, Green Books, Bideford, 1991).
In the tradition that runs from Godwin Goodman, Colin Ward devoted to educational issues and school fed high regard of acute sensitivity. Also in this context your attention is always very pragmatic and tends to emphasize with concrete examples, as Deschooling society and start a true libertarian education is a necessity now inevitable. Consistent with everything he spends "in favor of free schools, poor schools, not the schools for an education outside the classroom, the classroom, outside the concept of childhood to become an education process throughout life, a life that befits an educational process, because both are based on a single reality "(Nicolas Walter, The Anarchist Past, Pubblications Five Leaves, Nottingham, 2007).
He believes, as Illich and Goodman, who "perpetuate this society is, ultimately, the real social function of school is a socializing function. The company ensures its future by educating the children according to his model (...). Compulsory education is the historical product of many factors, not just the invention of printing and the rise of Protestantism and capitalism, but also the growth of the same nation states "(Anarchy as an organization, cit.). For these reasons, takes up the idea of strong Godwin about the absurdity of a national curriculum and state of education in the belief that, as Goodman says, the real education (as well as education) can only be "incidental" , ie the result of a question that arises spontaneously from the environment, and not a habit to respond properly to questions asked by the educator and teacher. In fact, "the anarchist approach to the problem of education is not based on contempt for the study but on the respect of the pupil."

Ward summed up in four basic principles of his vision of education:

1. The absence of coercion in the educational process;
2. To argue that there is a natural motivation of the child to learn and insist on a pedagogy that has resulted from this;
3. Stimulate the child's ability to resist the ideology imposed by the school;
4. Integral education of the child.

... and let them in peace!

This educational model is implemented in schools and anti-authoritarian alternatives that inextricably link the ideas of Godwin (left only intuitions) and the experiences of anarchist and libertarian tradition, reaching its apogee with the school of Alexander Neill of Summerhill in Colin Ward was a passionate mentor. His ideas are always confirmed in experiments and analysis that also come from outside the libertarian intellectual, but he knows how to use wisely in order to substantiate his beliefs.
Ward clearly expresses the libertarian belief that education requires a deep and true respect for the nature of each child and that no teacher has the right to superimpose their own beliefs:
"Significant is the slogan coined long ago in the context of progressive pedagogy: Generateli, love them and leave them in peace. This, I repeat, does not want to be an invitation to disinterest, but stresses that a good half of the troubles and frustrations that a person is dragged in adolescence and adult life have their roots in the insidious attention that, as children were surrounded to induce them to behave according to what others believed "their good" (Anarchy as an organization, cit.).
In a striking image Ward expresses this profound need to upset the traditional terms of educating returning its original meaning of "pull" rather than "forward." He does this using a compelling metaphor: "vase, clay or flower?". The centrality of education based on the true and deep respect for the child leads to give a different definition of the education. The child is thus not a vessel to be filled, not even a clay to be molded, but rather a flower that must be allowed to flourish naturally.
This image represents the Ward and child-centered approach to education implies that the school environment is designed in line with the needs of the child. The teacher becomes a facilitator, a stimulant, not a terrific instructor. One example that Ward brings to validate his beliefs, is the creative use of games and the spaces in which deputies. Children should be able to play anywhere and in full freedom and not be forced into confined areas. If we look really use the environment as we have a clearer idea of how we should adapt to them. One of the deficit that we are witnessing today is this impossible for children to have time and space is not organized by adults, and this has inevitably led to increased irresponsibility and lack of autonomy.
Finally, in analyzing the significance of education and in the street, Ward complains that it is finished and has lost the culture that comes from more places not frequented by children and young people. The school has gradually become an institution losing custody of the vitality and richness that can have if you fully immersed in the environment. This concept of separation between school and road shows to the end of the culture and the progressive alienation of children from real life.