John Taylor Gatto (born December 15, 1935) is an American writer and former school teacher who has been teaching in the classroom for nearly 30 years. He devoted most of his energies to his teaching career, then, after his resignation, wrote several books on modern education, criticized ideology, history, and its consequences. He is well-known for his books Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of the Compulsory School, and the Underground History of American Education: Introduction to School Intelligence into Modern School Problems, sometimes regarded as a magnum the opus .
He was named New York City Master in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and Master of the State of New York in 1991.
Video John Taylor Gatto
Biography
Gatto was born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, a steel city near Pittsburgh. In his youth he attended public schools throughout the Pittsburgh Metro Area including Switzerlandvale, Monongahela, and Uniontown as well as the Catholic boarding school in Latrobe. He worked as a scholar at Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia, then worked at the US Army medical corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. After attending military service, he worked at the University of New York City, Hunter College, Yeshiva University, University of California, Berkeley, and Cornell.
He works as a writer and holds some side jobs before borrowing his roommate's license to investigate teaching. Gatto also ran for the State Senate of New York, District 29 in 1985 and 1988 as a member of the New York Conservative Party against commander-in-chief David Paterson. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. In 1991, he wrote a letter announcing his resignation, titled I Quit, I Think , to the open page of the Wall Street Journal, which says that he no longer wants to "hurt children for a living." He then began his public speaking and writing career, and has received several awards from libertarian organizations, including the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Educational Freedom in 1997.
He promotes homeschooling, and is specifically not learning and open source. Wade A. Carpenter, professor of education at Berry College, has called his books "scathing" and "one-sided and hyperbolic, [but] inaccurate" and describes himself as in accord with Gatto.
Gatto is currently working on a compulsory 3-part documentary, titled The Fourth Purpose . He said he was inspired by Ken Burns Civil War .
In 2011, Gatto suffered two major blows. The stroke occurred after he finished filming "The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto" which was released in early 2012 by Tragedy and Hope Communications.
Maps John Taylor Gatto
Main thesis
Gatto confirms the following about what the school does to the children in "Dumbing Us Down":
- This confuses the students. It presents a confusing ensemble of information that children need to keep in school. Apart from tests and trials, the programming is similar to television; it fills almost all the "free" time kids. Someone saw and heard something, just to forget it again.
- It teaches them to accept their class affiliation.
- It makes them indifferent.
- It makes them depend emotionally.
- It makes them intellectually dependent.
- It teaches them a kind of self-confidence that requires constant confirmation by the experts (temporary self-esteem).
- It is clear to them that they can not hide, because they are always being watched.
He also draws a contrast between the community and the "network," with the former healthy, and the school being the last example. He said the network has become an unhealthy substitute for communities in the United States.
An article published online by the Foundation for Economic Education describes John Taylor Gatto having guided " millions of people in writing their own scripts ." In his book, Dumbing us Down, John Gatto urges parents to control the education of their children. He made a critical analysis of state education and described the system as comprehensive, informal, historical, and philosophical. John wrote several profound discourses that revealed significant conclusions that led to the separation of institutional schools and the removal of certification from teaching. The belief is that privatization of education with the free market system is the most viable option. Gatto's book serves as an inspiration for educational supporters and the commencement of Praxis. This test measures the academic competence and knowledge of the specific subjects required for teaching. Praxis tests are taken by potential educators as part of the certification required by the state and professional licensing bodies.
Bibliography
- Disabling Us: Hidden Curriculum of a Compulsory School (1992).
- The Exhausted School (1993).
- Different Teacher Type: Solving America Schooling Crisis (2000). ISBN: 1-893163-21-0
- American Underground Education History (2001).
- 'Against School' (2003) (Full Text Online)
- Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolmaster's Journey through the Dark World from Compulsory School (2008). ISBNÃ, 0-86571-631-5
* '[Snider Adventure, CIA Spider]]' (2017, Lost Tools Press) ISBN 978-0-9892800-3-7
Filmography
- Primary History: Weekend with John Taylor Gatto (2012) - interview
- Growing (2011) - appearance
- Human Resources Documentary (2010) - appearance
Also see
- Critical pedagogy
- Deschooling Society (book by Ivan Illich)
- Curriculum is hidden
- How Children Fail (book by John Holt)
- Total institutions
Other criticisms of public education:
- Zachariah Montgomery
- Richard Grant White
References
External links
- Official website
- [2]
- Kinza Academy, Homeschooling with Classics. Gatto is on the Advisory Board.
- Gatto's collection of essays is a regular columnist for The Link Homeschool newspaper
- Transcript of a radio interview with Jerry Brown
- November 2007 Gatto's visit to the Netherlands: audio, video, and articles
- Book review by Layla AR
- American Education Underground History by John Taylor Gatto (full download)
- John Taylor Gatto's quote and video collection
Posts and lectures
- [3]
- "Against School" - originally published at Harper's Magazine , September 2003
- "The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher" - originally published in the Whole Earth Review , Autumn 1991
- Teachers Seven School Lessons
- A quote set from Gatto and a link to the original essay
- "Institutional School Must Be Destroyed"
- "The Tyranny Of Compulsory School"
- "The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thinking?", an article published by Diablo Valley School
- "Why Schools Do not Educate - speech acceptance Speech of the Year"
- "A Short Angry History of American Forced Schooling"
- Book review by Layla AR
- Everything We Think About Schools is Wrong! - Interview with Gatto (PDF file download)
- A quote set from Gatto and a link to the original essay
Multimedia
- Main History Lesson, 2012 on YouTube, released free
- Bartleby Project 2010 on YouTube
- 4th Destination Promo - Trailer for Fourth Purpose
- John Gatto Keynote Talks - Video: Five keynote speakers complete by John Gatto (2004-2010)
- Altruists.org - download audio files from some Gatto talk
- Gatto's interview video, broken down into the topic section
- Speech at Home Schooling Conference by Radio for Peace (MP3)
- The Lew Rockwell Show, August 25, 2010
- File Gatto, especially MP3
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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