John Taylor Gatto

Common Core: Standardizing Inadequacy In John Taylor Gatto’s essay “Dumbing Us Down: Weapons Of Mass Instruction,” John argues that the current liberal state of the education system is in need of public reform and recognition. John explains that our current education system is structured to discourage self-discovery by cramming mind-numbing busy work down student’s throats, stifling creativity. John expounds the current education system is creating a quiet lower and middle class that keeps busy and helps capitalism maintains its influence by feeding the low wage labor pool, making big business possible. John warns that we must be vocal of our discontent with the system, and oppose anything that will bolster the systems current state. John’s…

John Taylor Gatto is an award winning educator who has taught in New York public schools for over twenty years. Three separate times he was named New York City teacher of the year, and in 1991 was named New York State teacher of the year. He also has written such works as: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, A Different Kind of Teacher, The Underground History of American Education, and Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey Through the Dark World of…

assignment: John Taylor Gatto: Against School John Taylor Gatto: Against School The success of a student from any learning institution is always based on the final school grades. Therefore, the best students graduate with the highest marks while the academically weak end up with the lowest grades. The students who qualify with the best grades (k-12) find their opportunity to study in the best schools. However, with the current state of technology, civilization, and globalization severally…

Gatto also talks about how the US schooling system works. He says that it is based on the Prussian system. The Prussian System is a system of education established in Prussia because of educational reforms in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. "Our Schools are...factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned." in Gatto’s article. Schools are only required to teach students up to a certain age or level, and the rest is up to them. Gatto says that students and…

The True Value of School In today’s society, it is frowned upon for people not to attend college and all children are required to go to grade school until they are adults. In the journal entries; “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” written by Marty Nemko and “Against School” written by John Taylor Gatto the authors both discuss that educational paths should be different for different people because not everyone is the same or wants to pursue the same career paths. “Against…

are in fact geniuses, and that this is proof that American people are not stupid, and “that the American mind is alive and well”. However, he makes a point that people’s minds are not challenged enough with things that actually matter, such as politics and economics, and that is mainly because those subjects are not engaging and easy to understand like sports. This goes hand in hand with the argument that because of the overload of information available on the Internet, people can easily learn…

While I love learning, I am not the biggest fan of school. Seven hours a day, five days a week, nine months a year for twelve years- it can get a bit repetitive. I know that a good education is key to accomplishing the things that dream of, but I also know that there are accomplishing those things is not contingent upon being the top student in the traditional schooling system that I am a part of. In his essay, “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto argues that success in life is not only not…

A Lack of Emotion: The Persuasive Strategies of John Taylor Gatto Human beings are controlled by their emotions. How people make decisions and how people feel towards someone or something are based on emotion. This is the one device that author John Taylor Gatto fails to practice effectively in his essay, Against School. Gatto uses historical figures and quotes to persuade the audience that public schooling has corrupted the children that are put through its system. The essay, appearing to be…

Jared Korotzer Professor Grady Writing 1 31 October 2014 For School In John Taylor Gatto’s essay, “Against School,” Gatto draws on his extensive experience as a teacher to argue that the American public education system does not exist to make students their personal best, but rather aims to create a large, manipulable work force incapable of challenging its government. This, he argues, is achieved by forcing authority on students from a young age, and then proceeding to breed each student for…

learn to a certain point in time of each marking period. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, he describes how numerous students and teachers go to school and they are just dullness is so…