The Right to Education

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[Universal Declaration of Human Rights] Article 26

"(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages"


In the Information Age "fundamental stages" need more than Blackboard and Chalk.

The computer is the tool for modern education.

Education must be free in a much more fundamental sense, like Free Software (Free as in Speech, not free as in beer). We must educate all children in Freedom itself. The most important kind of educational freedom after access to educational materials and institutions is the ability to teach oneself. This would be the most important thing that schools could do, but for one problem: It is not in their power to do. Children already know how to teach themselves.

Little children learn at a rate incredible to adults. They become fluent, not in a foreign language when they already know one, but in language itself, starting with no knowledge. They learn their society and culture. They learn elementary physics and math. They learn things that nobody even recognizes as learning, because we can't remember when we ourselves didn't know it.