John Taylor Gatto - Dumbing Us Down
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
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Today’s book is:
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
After over 100 years of mandatory schooling in the U.S., literacy rates have dropped, families are fragmented, learning "disabilities" are skyrocketing, and children and youth are increasingly disaffected. Thirty years of teaching in the public school system led John Taylor Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling is to blame, accomplishing little but to teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine.
He became a fierce advocate of families and young people taking back education and learning, arguing that "genius is as common as dirt," but that conventional schooling is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills we're born with, replacing it with rule-following, fragmented time, and disillusionment.
Gatto's radical treatise on public education, a bestseller for 25 years, continues to bang the drum for an unshackling of children and learning from formal schooling. Now, in an ever-more-rapidly changing world with an explosion of alternative routes to learning, it's poised to continue to shake the world of institutional education for many more years.
You can buy the book here (Amazon link).
I read his book “Weapons of Mass Instruction” and used it heavily in my chapter on education located here: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/origins-of-modern-education
As a millennial, when you read his works and see how education has affected you, you begin to see how you were “set up to fail”: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/how-millennials-were-setup-to-fail
Thanks for bringing awareness to a wonderful soul in Dr. Gatto. Much appreciated!
This book was a game changer for me. Read it in one afternoon, the day before I knew I had family coming who disapprove of the fact that I didn’t put my kids in school. I was armed with the best responses. They’ve left me alone since. I now buy this book as gift for friends with kids. 🤷♀️ silent revolts can be pretty enjoyable.