ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I hope to show that the promise of non-schooling – and the reasons for taking it very seriously – can be seen when we look carefully at the limits of what schooling can and cannot do. I begin from what might seem self-evident: schooling is best understood on its frontiers. It is much easier to see what is taken for granted by schools, and the limits of what schooling can do, when you can also see what it’s like when they aren’t there. From this perspective it becomes evident that non-school-based educational programs offer the possibility of taking up two essential tasks for the continuation of humans as a species-being (Dewey, 1916) that are highly unlikely to be met by schooling. First, as with all forms of Western institutional bureaucracies (Wagner, 1994), schooling has always been only partially successful in meeting its promise. After all, social exclusions from school exist everywhere and that means that no schooling system in the world can truly claim full participation in any country. Thus, strategies to reach those not able or willing to access schooling form one rationale for some non-school educational programs.
