Everett Reimer

Everett W. Reimer (1910–1998[1]) was an education theorist who authored several books on educational policy and was a proponent of deschooling. He was a notable friend of Ivan Illich, whom he met at the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

Everett did a variety of things before joining CIDOC, including selling maps, playing professional football, printing greeting cards, and working at a tire factory. During the Second World War he was a civil servant. After the war Reimer worked for the Atomic Energy Commission, for the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, and for the Washington Research Center of the Maxwell School, University of Syracuse.[2]

After these jobs Reimer came to Puerto Rico as Secretary of Committee of Human Resources, and worked for the Alliance for Progress. Reimer met Ivan Illich in 1958 in Puerto Rico, where they jointly developed their philosophy of deschooling. Reimer then joined the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC), as the Director of the CIDOC seminar on Alternatives in Education.[2]