A
must read and a very dangerous book, which is high praise.
Long time classroom teacher and NY City and State Teacher of the
Year Gatto is prophetic in the true sense of the word: he criticizes the status
quo and energizes us to develop a better future for educating our children. He
reveals the dysfunctionality behind mass schooling, which is more a mass jobs
project than an inspiring means by which to instill a body of knowledge, far
less stoke creativity, curiosity, and inspiration. He makes an supremely
convincing case for LESS school, not more and reveals the destructive lessons
instilled by the way we do school, like conformity and subordination.
Essentially, school “ensures a workforce that will not
rebel…that will be physically, intellectually, and emotionally dependent upon
corporate institutions for their incomes, self-esteem, and stimulation, and
that will learn to find social meaning in their lives solely in the production
and consumption of material goods. They haven’t changed much since the 1890s
because they don’t need to –they perform precisely as they are intended.”
His work has become a foundation for homeschoolers everywhere
because he urges parents to take their power to play a much larger role in
their offspring’s education. Perhaps this is a good idea in many loving
households. At a recent state homeschoolers’ convention of 4000-5000 attendees
in Florida, the twin mantra were “We want to spend as much time as we can with
our children and keep them as part of our close family forever” and “it doesn’t
really matter what we teach or don’t; God will make sure they get what they
need.” We may defend parents’ rights to raise and educate their children as
they see fit while vehemently disagreeing with the method and content.
Nevertheless, there are some major problems with homeschooling. What about
parents who have zero desire to be with their children all day, or who must or
want to work full-time, or who care for infirm relatives or who travel for
their job? What about dysfunctional families in which progeny are best
protected from the damaging or abusive/neglectful parents? Every educator knows
students for whom school is an oasis. What about irresponsible parents? To
render home education feasible for parents is an enormous undertaking…which is,
in part, why we have what we do.
Gatto further advocates for communities’ rights to determine
what is relevant in their milieu. In Florida, the homeschoolers ardently defend
their rights to decide for themselves and want the fed to stay out… except when
it comes to issues that contradict their religious teachings like gay marriage,
abortion, and euthanasia, which they want the federal government to actively
prohibit. If communities always decided for themselves what they wanted free of
federal intervention, we might still enslave human beings.
Dismantling mass factory style education and implementing more
experiential learning, however, has much to recommend it. It’s astonishing to
me in my work with micro-schools that so few (Blyth Templeton a notable
exception) actually take students on field trips or make use of the community
as classroom. This should be the center of what we do. We need more people of
vision like Gatto to make it happen.
Reprinted from Amazon.com.