Against School John Gatto Analysis

The Struggles of Understanding Mandatory Schooling In the article “Against School” by John Gatto, he expresses his opinion about how and why the public education system in our country is not getting the job done. He does this by discussing personal experiences and stating some eye opening facts about the standard methodologies of teaching in the U.S. He attempts to dig deep down into the true meaning of the goals of a public education in our nation and believes that the standard teaching methods of this type of education are outdated and is responsible for producing too many average students. These old-fashioned teaching methods are holding back students from growing up and reaching their full potential. I can relate to Gallo’s views …show more content…
One of his most important thoughts in this article is that he attempts to explain to the readers that there is a clear difference between education and schooling. Gatto explains schooling as “six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years” (Gatto, 116). Children who are attending public schools in this country and want to obtain a high school diploma have no choice, this is mandatory. However, Gatto also indicates that education on the other hand is something completely different and as the reader probes further into the article he explains that, “We have been taught in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon ‘schooling,’ but historically that isn't true in either an intellectual or a financial sense” (Gatto, 116). Education today should be a choice everyone should get to make, it shouldn’t be mandatory and at some point, the student should get to decide if they want to continue through the process. Society needs to fully understand the difference between these two concepts so we take actions to avoid the traditional public educational system techniques of teachers showing students how to get through the “schooling process” instead of trying to further their education. I believe knowing the difference between these two concepts …show more content…
I have also learned many things about our public school system from reading this article that I wish I would have known a lot sooner in hopes of helping broaden my viewpoints in college. I have always been told and I thought, that to be successful in life I needed the twelve years of schooling plus college. However, after reading this article, now I don't think you do, as there is much supporting evidence that says otherwise. To end, if I could take one thing from this article and relate it to my life going forward, it would be to let me manage myself and let me control where my life takes