Learning v Schooling

Abstract The tension between learning and schooling was central to Howard S. Becker’s early work. On the one hand, he criticized institutionalized learning extensively. On the other, he described and made explanatory use of informal learning processes. Continuing his lead, we can ask, how do people learn outside of school, in ways schools don’t recognize? Both in his biography and in the substance of his writings, Becker showed how, outside of formal instruction, people often make the leap to a new status, competency, or achievement by learning, often to their surprise, that something they have already been doing gives them traction for the next advance.