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John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto Quotes

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John Taylor Gatto is an American author known for his critical analysis of the educational system. Born on December 15, 1935, he is a former public school teacher who gained national attention for refusing to comply with bureaucratic regulations in education. Gatto's work emphasizes the importance of educational freedom and personal responsibility.

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Famous John Taylor Gatto Quotes

“Is it any wonder that Socrates was outraged at the accusation he took money to teach? Even then, philosophers saw clearly the inevitable direction the professionalization of teaching would take, that of pre-empting the teaching function, which, in a healthy community, belongs to everyone.”

Community Wonder Teach Saws Teaching Healthy Function Philosopher Inevitable Accusation Outraged

Book:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

“Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid.”

Wells School Teach Pyramids Egyptian

Book:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

“Children do not learn in school; they are babysat. It takes maybe 50 hours to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. After that, students can teach themselves. Mainly what school does is to keep the children off the streets and out of the job market.”

Writing Children Doe School Jobs Reading Hours Teach Streets Students Arithmetic Reading Writing

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“Teaching is a function, not a profession. Anything with something to offer can teach.”

Teach Teaching Offers Function Profession

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators, but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions.”

People School Order Individual Teach Teacher Mystery Truth Is Logic Institutions Caring Abstract Contribution Humane Administrators

Book:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

“It only takes about 50 contact hours to transmit basic literacy and math skills well enough that kids can be self-teachers from then on. The cry for 'basic skills' practice is a smokescreen behind which schools pre-empt the time of children for twelve years and teach them the six lessons I've just taught you.”

Years Wells Children Self Enough Kids School Hours Behinds Teach Practice Teacher Cry Taught Lessons Skills Six Math Contact Twelve Literacy Transmit Math Skills

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“I taught public school for 26 years, but I just can't do it anymore. For years I asked the school board to let me teach a curriculum that doesn't hurt kids, but they always had other fish to fry. If you hear of a job where I don't have to hurt kids to make a living, let me know. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything, but blind obedience.”

Ifs Knows Years Kids School Jobs Hurt Teach Taught Truth Is Let Me Blind Fishes Obedience Boards Public School Curriculum School Board Blind Obedience

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“One of the first things a family tries to teach its children is the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. One of the first things our schools do is destroy that distinction.”

Trying Firsts Children School Evil Differences Teach Learning Distinction Good And Evil

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges. It should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

“I teach how to fit into a world I don't want to live in. I just can't do it anymore.”

World Want School Teach Fit

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders.”

School Order Teach Truth Is

Book:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

“By bells and many other similar techniques they (schools) teach that nothing is worth finishing. The gross error of this is progressive: if nothing is worth finishing then by extension nothing is worth starting either. Few children are so thick-skulled they miss the point.”

Ifs Children School Teach Missing Errors Starting Technique Progressive Thick Bells Extensions Gross Finishing

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my twenty-five years of teaching - that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders.”