John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018)

WARNING! Read this book at your peril because--if you care about education--it will make you angry.

Here's one amazing fact:

"By 1940, literacy as a national number stood at 96 percent for whites, 80 percent for blacks. Four of five blacks were literate in spite of all disadvantages. Yet, six decades later, the Adult Literacy Survey and the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported a 40 percent illiteracy rate among blacks -- doubling the earlier deficiency -- and a 17 percent rate for whites, more than quadrupling it. Yet money spent on schooling in real terms had grown 350 percent."

And don't blame the system on teachers:

"How many schoolteachers were aware of what they were actually a part of? Surely a number close to zero."


… (mere)

There were so many wonderful quotes here, and I kept thinking to myself, "Yes! This is exactly what I think, but didn't know how to articulate."

My only criticism is that Gatto seems to assume that individuals, left to their own devices, will somehow choose right and straighten themselves out, with "self-knowledge," etc. In reality, as shown over and over again in the Old Testament of the Bible, when people are left to their own devices and don't rely on God, havoc ensues. We cannot create our own purpose; we must acknowledge God's sovereignty and His purpose for our lives. We will find our purpose and sense of worth in the knowledge of His love.… (mere)

This book was okay. The only reason I’m giving it three stars is because it’s very hyperbolic and pretentious at times. I work in special education, so I’m with him that public education can be a nightmare in a lot of ways, and I agree that the federal government should have less power and the individual communities schools belong in should have more. But then he rages against television and fast food and gets all doom and gloom that everybody in America is a mindless idiot. That’s all a bit much. Couldn’t give it higher than 3 stars, despite agreeing with him on many points.… (mere)