R.R. #1- Gatto- "Against School"

John Taylor Gatto’s essay, “Against School”, offers a lot to reflect on.  The essay talks about the obvious ties between the Prussian and American school systems, about how our own school systems are based on an educational system deliberately designed to produce average intellects, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure obedient, efficient, mass consumer, tax paying citizens in order to render the populace manageable. All to ensure large corporate profitability and easy government control.  They built the school system to command children to conform and scare them into thinking if they don't conform they will not be responsible and prosperous people and instead will be ostracized, poor, and stupid. Conformity did not form America, the desire for freedom and liberty did. Schooling in the United States is force fed information and propaganda, education is willingly seeking and remembering knowledge. Our current public schooling forms our curious and enthusiastic children into automatons, trained for compliance of rules and the mass production/ consumption lifestyle of our conformist society.  Control was not the founding principle of America, control was the reason people left Europe to form America. Remember our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their honor to find and preserve liberty and avoid authoritarianism.  

It makes me wonder what people who reject or “fight” the system become.   What career paths should they take.  Possibly writers, inventors, politicians, marijuana growers (no taxes for them)?

Mr. Gatto asks very intriguing questions.  "Do we really need school? I don't mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don't hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy home-schoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest."

I think the biggest question should be why we have not done anything to reform the school system? There should be no reason for graduates to feel as if they have wasted the last thirteen years of their life with pointless busy work. Rather than creating a “manageable populous”, we should focus on giving our kids the tools to succeed in an ever changing world. The world is more interconnected with the invention of the internet now than ever before, and because our education has not evolved with it, we are being left behind. There is a correlation between our countries mediocrities in academics compared to other countries of our stature.  I think our schools should be encouraged to evolve, our teachers to be inspired and our children encouraged to excel in what they’re passionate about.  We need fresh thinkers.