Compulsory Schooling In John Gatto's Essay

What is it that states see in compulsory schooling? Is it the fact that the different governments believe they are conforming the students into good citizens who abide by the law? Truthfully, the governments have compulsory schooling set in hopes to create good citizens, decent young adults, and that these students will become adults who abide by the laws. In reality, everyone knows that not every student is going to listen to what the teachers say, much less a state law that he or she does not like. John Taylor Gatto, the author of the essay, “Against School”, argues against compulsory schooling by saying the school system is boring. Speaking of Gatto’s essay and argument brings up the thought of Joel Stein’s essay, “The New Greatest Generation”. By reading and understanding Stein and Gatto’s essays, the reader could assume that Stein would not agree with Gatto’s point on the school system being boring. Also, after reading Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, the reader could also understand that Carr would not agree with Gatto either because Carr thinks that the Internet is ruining today’s world. Overall, if Stein and Carr read Gatto’s essay, one could determine that …show more content…
In Stein’s essay, he specifically pinpoints the millennial generation and refers to it as “selfish, lazy, entitled, and shallow” (565). He furthers this description by saying the generation is also fame-obsessed and narcissistic. If Stein was to read Gatto’s essay, he would disagree with Gatto on many terms because Gatto blames the school system for boredom while Stein would completely disagree. Stein seems to think that the millennial generation is lazy anyways so it would not be the school systems fault because the millennial generation is too busy being selfish and self-obsessed with itself to even care about school work, jobs, being decent citizens, or good