Compare And Contrast Ravitch And Gatto

Diane Ravitch and John Gatto both set up their arguments to have a message mirroring each other, in that the current system that schools have in order to teach kids is failing and needs to be refined. Diane Ravitch approaches this view in contrast to Gatto. She builds her argument around the solution that children should be educated in such a way that sets them up for citizenhood during and after high school. Gatto’s approach takes a different view in which children are responsible for their own education and it should be left up to the individual students on whether or not they wish to “take away an education rather than merely receive a schooling,” (Gatto, page 115). Both build up to this belief through their separate experiences within the schooling system. Gatto had received more of a negative side from attempting to reform the education system on his own terms when …show more content…
Gatto states more of fixing individual students by making them responsible for their own education. Any boredom that occurs is with the fault of that student. He gives the statement, “Let them manage themselves,” but doesn’t offer any insight to how this could be accomplished or even the effects of such a proposal. This creates a hole within his argument and causes wonder of why this would be a better solution than the current implemented system. Ravitch gives a more developed solution, saying that standardize testing should not be removed, but reduced so that programs such as art, music, and historical literature can balance the constant persecution of only math and reading. She gives more of an option to change the curriculum and have these children possess a more necessary education, that not only sets them up for college, but allows them to become more well versed within the political side of the nation. This will in turn create a more educated nation able to make critical thinking decisions within our civic