RR #1 Gatto

The article “Against School” was written by John Taylor Gatto and originally appeared in Harper’s magazine in 2003. This article attacks the modern day definition of schooling and explains that it is more an asylum used to suppress people into become robots rather than really nurturing a student’s physical, psychological, and social needs. Gatto is a former schoolteacher and is a strong advocate for education, but he strongly believes that our form of schooling today does not educate. He continues to explain that school purposefully does not allow children to mature so that the government will have a large group of well-behaved, children, consumer, citizens to take care of rather than a large group of matured adults that could possibly cause issues by not allowing the government full control over their lives. Gatto debates against the Prussian educational system that America so fondly adopted in the 1800’s, which is explained in Horace Mann’s article “Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education” (p. 116). The author is not all about negatives though; he goes on to explain that the solution is to invest in flourishing and maturing our children’s minds and give them the opportunity to develop themselves.

According to Gatto and prior to him, Alexander Inglis, the six unstated but actual principles of schooling are quite shocking. The first purpose is the “adjustive or adaptive function” which explains that schools must “establish fixed habits of reaction to authority.” (p. 152) The next principle is the “integrating function” making children as alike as possible (p.153). The third function is the “diagnostic and directive function”, used to determine a student’s “proper social role”. The fourth purpose is the “differentiating function” taking the student’s social role and educating them to the point necessary for their niche. The fifth principle is the “selective function” relates to Darwin’s theory of natural selection, or as Gatto explains its purpose is to: “wash the dirt down the drain.” The final function is the “propaedeutic function” which explains that there is a small population of children that will quietly be informed of these actual functions of education and taught how to maintain the balance so that the government and corporations can continue unchallenged. According to my own experience, I definitely experienced these unstated functions of schooling. I’ve always done really well in school, ever since I was young. Because of this, I noticed some of my teachers, especially elementary school teachers, giving me special attention and I was put into a lot of programs for gifted students. These teachers really invested in my education and challenged me to grow and flourish even though my home life was nowhere close to easy or supportive of an education. On the other hand, I realized early on that there were other teachers that did attempt to hold me back with all the other students. I met this adversity mostly in high school, but I always combatted this by playing into their mind games at school and then educating myself at home. I was homeschooled through middle school, so I understood how my brain worked and took advantage of the lack of homework my teachers were giving me by teaching myself things that actually interested me. My schooling history is very unique which produced an education that was very unique compared to that of my classmates. I don’t believe I fit into the generalized category Gatto explains in this article, but I do understand and believe that his claims are very true to today’s society.