The Underground History of American Education

[Wishfarple]

John Taylor Gatto was a thirty-year veteran of the NY public school system.  In 1991, when he was made Teacher of The Year, he published an essay in the Wall Street Journal entitled I Quit, I Think, and shortly thereafter did so.  Here's the essay:

Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents. The whole blueprint of school procedure is Egyptian, not Greek or Roman. It grows from the theological idea that human value is a scarce thing, represented symbolically by the narrow peak of a pyramid.

That idea passed into American history through the Puritans. It found its "scientific" presentation in the bell curve, along which talent supposedly apportions itself by some Iron Law of Biology. It,Äôs a religious notion, School is its church. I offer rituals to keep heresy at bay. I provide documentation to justify the heavenly pyramid.

Socrates foresaw if teaching became a formal profession, something like this would happen. Professional interest is served by making what is easy to do seem hard; by subordinating the laity to the priesthood. School is too vital a jobs-project, contract giver and protector of the social order to allow itself to be "re-formed." It has political allies to guard its marches, that,Äôs why reforms come and go without changing much. Even reformers can,Äôt imagine school much different.

David learns to read at age four; Rachel, at age nine: In normal development, when both are 13, you can,Äôt tell which one learned first,Äîthe five-year spread means nothing at all. But in school I label Rachel "learning disabled" and slow David down a bit, too. For a paycheck, I adjust David to depend on me to tell him when to go and stop. He won,Äôt outgrow that dependency. I identify Rachel as discount merchandise, "special education" fodder. She,Äôll be locked in her place forever.

In 30 years of teaching kids rich and poor I almost never met a learning disabled child; hardly ever met a gifted and talented one either. Like all school categories, these are sacred myths, created by human imagination. They derive from questionable values we never examine because they preserve the temple of schooling.

That,Äôs the secret behind short-answer tests, bells, uniform time blocks, age grading, standardization, and all the rest of the school religion punishing our nation. There isn,Äôt a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as fingerprints. We don,Äôt need state-certified teachers to make education happen,Äîthat probably guarantees it won,Äôt.

How much more evidence is necessary? Good schools don,Äôt need more money or a longer year; they need real free-market choices, variety that speaks to every need and runs risks. We don,Äôt need a national curriculum or national testing either. Both initiatives arise from ignorance of how people learn or deliberate indifference to it. I can,Äôt teach this way any longer. If you hear of a job where I don,Äôt have to hurt kids to make a living, let me know. Come fall I,Äôll be looking for work.

In 2000, he published a book detailing his discontent with the American public school system, entitled The Underground History of American Education.  This book has been made available in its entirety online, at his website http://www.johntaylorgatto.com.  The book itself is here, and it's a fascinating read.

[Z³]

I am really really psyched to read this.

I'm glad he made the information freely available too.

[Slarti]

wow, same here. i'll plan on reading that sometime soon.thanks for the link

[Zurtok Khan]

Wow, I've read the first part of the book already, its a rather good book, me thinks I shall have to buy it (uggh...money) in text form so that I can propogate it better.

[Prickly]

One of my heroes.

[Bella]

Wow! I can't wait to read it either.
This letter pretty much sums up my experience with the Amurrican
educational system - both as a student and as the mother of a student.

Thanks for posting this.