Blog Post #2

Blog Post #2

This week I have decided to summarize the article that was assigned to my team. I am a Hawk, and we were assigned to read Against School, by John Taylor Gatto. The article was about the author’s negative opinion about schooling. He draws from his personal experience to make a compelling case about the faults of our school system.

Gatto was a teacher in Manhattan for 30 years in the best and the worst schools. During that time he claims that he “…became an expert in boredom.” (148) He explained that in the school system, boredom is extremely common amongst the students and the teachers. He claimed that the boredom is a result of the school system. So Gatto tried his best to break the conformity of the school system, in order to improve the educational environment for him and his students. He returned from a medical leave, to find that his job had been terminated by the faculty as a result of his nonconformity.

This unfortunate event caused Gatto to further question the educational system. He started to ask himself, “Do we really need school?” (149) He made sure to clarify that he he’s speaking of the school system not education. He makes a compelling argument that the purpose of schooling isn’t to educate, because people can educate themselves, or get homeschooled. He explains that their three reasons for mass schooling, and it’s to make good people, citizens, and to make each person their personal best. He continues to say that despite these goals, schools fail to achieve them.

Gatto refers to the writings of H. L. Mencken who wrote The American Mercury to claim that the schooling system may have a more sinister plot. Mencken linked the American mass schooling model with the educational system of the no-longer-existing, Prussia. He believed that our school system is Prussian in origin that is “deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens.” (152) In other words to create a population of people who can’t think for themselves, therefore they are easy to control.

Gatto also refers to the writings of Alexander Inglis called Principles of Secondary Education. Inglis claims that the true purpose of education can be broken down into six goals. First is the adaptive function, which establishes obedience in students. Second is the intergrading function, which establishes conformity in students. Third is the diagnostic function, which establishes a student’s social role. Fourth is the differentiating function, which sorts students into their roles and assures that they’re treated accordingly. Fifth is the selective function, which refers to Darwin’s theory of natural selection and causes there to be an inferior group of students. Sixth is the propaedeutic function, which creates a group of students who are “superior” to the others In order to govern their roles.

Gatto says that these goals are meant to create a nation of consumers designed to for mass consumption. He also claims that by teaching your children to be adventurous, open-minded, and independent, they can avoid being brainwashed by the school system.