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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

“Ordinary people send their children to school to get smart, but what modern schooling teaches is dumbness.”

Children Education Teaching Schooling Dumbness

Book:The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling

Source: The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling

“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

“Looking back on a 30-year teaching career full of rewards and prizes, somehow I can't completely believe that I spent my time on earth institutionalized; I can't believe that centralized schooling is allowed to exist at all as a gigantic indoctrination and sorting machine, robbing people of their children. Did it really happen? Was this my life? God help me.”

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

Teach Teaching Offers Function Profession

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“In our secular society, school has become the replacement for church, and like church it requires that its teachings must be taken on faith.”

School Church Taken Teaching Secular Secularism Replacements Secular Society

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

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

“It was never factually true that young people learn to read or do arithmetic primarily by being taught these things. These things are learned, but not really taught at all. Over-teaching interferes with learning, although the few who survive it may well come to imagine it was by an act of teaching.”

People Wells May Young Learning Imagine Teaching Taught Interfere Arithmetic

Author:John Taylor Gatto

“Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.”

Home Government Parent Teaching Childhood Adventure Radical Disrespect Schooling Best Times Schools And Education Government Education Monopolizing

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.”