by Pongo

October marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Spanish educator Francisco Ferrer y Guardia. On October 13, 1909, the Spanish government, along with the Catholic Church, executed a teacher. Why?

Ferrer was an anarchist educator in Europe in the early 20th century. In 1901 he created La Escuela Moderna, the Modern School, which drew influence from Leo Tolstoy’s school and other radical schools and educators. Ferrer was falsely implicated in leading an insurrection in Spain, but no evidence was brought against him. In reality, the government and the Church executed him because he created schools which taught students to think critically and independently, to question government and the teachings of the Church (in a society in which the majority of citizens were poor and could not read or write). School was often private and expensive, and when public school was available, its purpose was to indoctrinate students to submit to political and religious authority.

The goal of La Escuela Moderna was to provide an educational experience based on freedom. It involved a switch from instruction and memorization to the process of learning and experiential learning. The school was based on rationalism and science rather than dogma. The goals of the school were “independence, autonomy, and self-reliance” (Avrich, 7). If we want a free society based on equality, radical educators pondered, then shouldn’t we start with the younger generation? The basic idea was to inspire students to become revolutionaries. The methods were antiauthoritarian, stressing the dignity and rights of the child. The school encouraged creativity and individuality. The school was a free school in the full sense of the term—free from authority and domination. Several Modern Schools were set up across Spain during the first decade of the 1900s.

When Spain killed Ferrer, it created a martyr. Upon his death, there was an outcry across Europe and the United States. Not only were people angry, but they decided to do something about it. Modern schools were created all across Europe and the US. The longest running Modern School lasted from 1911 to 1953 in New York. In California, there were Modern Schools and similar anarchist schools in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Berkeley (lasting through the 1960s), and Los Angeles. Of the national schools, the most well known was the New York school. Many radical luminaries were involved with the school and the larger Modern School movement in some capacity. All kinds of theorists, intellectuals, artists, poets, writers, playwrights, teachers, and others were involved. Among these famous radicals are Emma Goldman, Voltairine De Cleyre, Alexander Berkman, Man Ray, Robert Henri, Margaret Sanger, Upton Sinclair, and Jack London.

The structure and curriculum of the Modern Schools were based on respect for autonomy and individuality. Students could come and go as they pleased. Teachers were more like learning guides, facilitators of learning, than omniscient imparters of knowledge. Teachers and students learned and created together. They acted in plays and had forays in the park. Individual and creative expression was encouraged. The schools didn’t stop with educating children. Many had adult education courses, weekend lectures, art shows, plays, and other activities. Some schools doubled as community centers and libraries, hotbeds of radical thought and organizing.

I am in a teacher education program and plan to teach history, so the ideas and efforts of Modern School organizers are influential to me. Although this movement started 100 years ago, it’s still relevant. Schools remain incredibly oppressive institutions. The purpose of schooling is teaching submission to authority and creating productive, unquestioning workers. Although many teacher education programs and education theorists share similar ideas to Modern School thinkers, they often accept the basic premise of schooling. And most schools are a far cry from what we new teachers are learning in school.

The Modern School movement gives me inspiration, hope, and ideas. And many new ideas, developments, and discoveries have come about in the past 100 years. While the basic impulse for freedom in education remains, new information and theories can help teachers better understand how to create free, healthy school environments for students.

So on this 100th anniversary of the death of an educator most people have never heard of, let’s remember his purpose and the ideas of contemporary educators and many educators since: creating a form of education that students can take responsibility for and in which they can follow their desires and their natural tendency and passion for learning about the world around them.
I see little hope for revolution and meaningful social change resulting from current methods of activism. And I also don’t see tons of hope in trying to reach students and get this message across. But I do have some hope. And although all methods and strategies are necessary, I see connecting with the younger generation, sharing with them the truth about the world, encouraging them to question authority and to become autonomous individuals, as one of the more promising ways to cultivate lasting change. At least that’s one way that I think will work for me.

Further reading: The Modern School Movement (Paul Avrich), Walking on Water (Derrick Jensen), works by John Taylor Gatto, works by John Holt, “Toward the Destruction of Schooling” (http://www.anti-politics.net/school/), essays in Emma Goldman’s Anarchism and Other Essays and The Voltairine De Cleyre Reader.
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Pongo is working toward per’s teaching credential and is afraid to tell classmates and teachers that per is anti-school and wants to inspire students to become revolutionaries and bring down the system. He can be reached at anarchoprimate@riseup.net