Recent writings on the life and thought of Ivan Illich are summarized in this paper. Attention is focused on his missionary training activities, his subsequent involvement with the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the influence of a Brazilian adult educator, Paulo Freire, on Illich's social and educational thinking. Finally, Illich's own views on public education and the learning process are set forth. He calls for the abolition of compulsory schooling in view of what he considers the idolatrous worship of formal education and certification, and the institutional failures of education, around the world. Illich also urges that the drift of adult education toward institutional status be reversed to help make way for informal educational networks based on mutual inquiry and on lifelong access to educational opportunities of one's own choosing. Included are 157 references. (LY)