ABSTRACT
This chapter explores control and conformity within institutionalized learning systems like schools. The twin aspects of control and conformity act as important components of school behavioural systems. The discussion within the chapter explores the historical basis for control-oriented school systems and analyzes the outcomes that such systems eventually generate. The chapter analyzes the works of champions of liberal thought like Albert Camus, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Sir Ken Robinson and others. The works of psychologists and philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, William James, John Locke, John Watson, Edward Bernays, Martin Seligman, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, Robert Sapolsky and Charles K. Hofling, among others, are discussed. The chapter details the life and works of champions of liberal education such as Paolo Freire, Ivan Illich and John Taylor Gatto. The theories and arguments are explained and augmented through real-life cases, excerpts from literature and historical narration.
