Provisional Self Esteem - "Our world wouldn't survive a flood of confident people very long, so I teach that a kid's self respect should depend on expert opinion. The current fad of 'student centered instruction' is laughably ironic - it is a command from above to teach in such a manner. The teachers determine what the students must study and think about - whether it's based on fact or conjecture. The 'bad' students buck the trend, leave the herd, and therefore have 'issues'. Intellectual Dependency - Students wait for the teacher to tell them what to do - the 'good' ones anyway. "By stars and red checks, smiles and frowns, prizes, honors, and disgraces, I teach kids to surrender their will to the predestinated chain of command."
the lesson of bells is that no work is worth finishing, so why care too deeply about anything?" All the classes are of the same length, indifferent to the teacher, subject, passion, interest - what does it matter if after 40 minutes, it's time to get up and leave?Įmotional Dependency - Rights do not exist in school (not even free speech - see the Tinker and Bethel cases), so students are dependent upon teachers and school officials for emotional underpinnings and support. Indifference - "I teach children not to care too much about anything, even though they want to make it appear that they do." ". They are considered the smartest and will achieve. Is this true? Children are given a number and ranked, the classes are divided by ability and the 'good kids' get the good grades.
This is not the natural progression of things.Ĭlass Position - If you don't study and get good grades, you'll never find a good job. A group of adults, not chosen by the student or the parent, administers jargon and superficiality for hours a day.
The most important of the essays, Gatto explains what school really teaches:Ĭonfusion - school is a mixture of mostly non - related topics, devoid of meaning, grouped under one roof. Gatto's work woke me up about six years ago - I spent a decade in the system, buying the shibboleths fed to me, believing in the system, before I found him. Gatto has a knack for stating what is rightly obvious, yet so politically incorrect that even a School Veteran such as myself might have missed it. Probably because I work in a difficult environment, I spent the entire essay saying 'wow that's right' and 'that's exactly how it goes in my building'. Gatto details the seven things that school actually teaches. The most potent of the five is the first one, "The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher". Gatto collects five essays / speeches and collects them in one volume.
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