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Quote by John Taylor Gatto

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Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

This book delves into the author's perspective on the unintended consequences of traditional educational systems, analyzing how they may contribute to the dumbing down of students and society at large. more

Author

John Taylor Gatto
John Taylor Gatto

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. more

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“Do we really need school? I don't mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don't hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest.”

IfsNeedsWritingYearsMeanSchoolReadingForceBehindsEducationClassMillionsFiveTeacherWeekMonthsSixNineHidingRoutineTwelveJustificationSchoolingArithmeticHomeschoolingBanalityNine MonthsRationaleReading Writing
Author:John Taylor Gatto
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“As damaging as the obsessive emphasis on testing often proves to be for kids in general, I believe that the effects are still more harmful in those schools in which the resources available to help the children learn the skills that will be measured by these tests are fewest, the scores they get are predictably the lowest, and the strategies resorted to by principals in order to escape the odium attaching to a disappointing set of numbers tend to be the most severe.”

BelieveChildrenStillsHelpingKidsSchoolOrderI BelieveNumbersEffectsSkillsProveResourcesTestsStrategyAvailableScorePrincipalSevereLowestEmphasisTestingObsessiveDisappointing
Book:The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
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“Childhood is not merely basic training for utilitarian adulthood. It should have some claims upon our mercy, not for its future value to the economic interests of competitive societies but for its present value as a perishable piece of life itself.”

ShouldValuesInterestPiecesEconomicChildhoodTrainingShould HaveMercyClaimsAdulthoodUtilitarianBasic Training
Book:The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
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