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3rd out of 125 books
—
139 voters
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Education
A highly praised bestseller for over a decade, "Dumbing Us Down" is a radical treatise on public education that concludes that compulsory government schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders like cogs in a machine. This Special Collector's Hardcover Edition celebrates 100,000 copies of the book in print, and the book's on-going importance and popularity...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
March 1st 2005
by New Society Publishers
(first published 1991)
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Apr 20, 2008
Umm Layth
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
parents, children, and anyone who cares about education
Recommended to Umm Layth by:
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
Before reading this book I really thought I was 100% sure about my reasons to homeschool. Boy, was I wrong. I guess I was only half way there because now that I have finished this book, I realize that I never really saw the harms of the public school system 100%.
Our children are being limited every day by being locked away. Our children are struggling with learning more than they did before the system was in place like today. The role models they take on during school really are harming them. B...more
Our children are being limited every day by being locked away. Our children are struggling with learning more than they did before the system was in place like today. The role models they take on during school really are harming them. B...more
Don't read this if you have or plan on having children that you won't be able to home-school, but a must read for everyone els. This is a damning indictment against the public school system written by none other than a teacher who lived it. Sure to cause riots once more people realize that twelve to thirteen years of their lives were utterly wasted.
Feb 27, 2008
Kristy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
It is a must read for anyone who wishes their children to be educated, not just "schooled".
Recommended to Kristy by:
Dallas Cox
This was an excellent book written by a NY teacher of the year who taught for 26 years in the "government controlled monopoly school system". It is an eye opener that what is needed is less money, not more. More choices, more freedoms, more time with children home, more time for children to be children, allowing them to learn HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Interesting to learn that the literacy rate in colonial America was close to total, and hasnt been that high since just before the Civil Wa...more
Written by a man that taught in the monopoly called public school system, won awards for it, and lists what he taught;
confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, intellectual dependency, and provisional self-esteem.
The national curriculum is a joke. And what is different from this book compared to others; he doesn't just list the things that are wrong with the system or bash the system, Mr. Gatto gives suggestions of tearing the institution apart and rebuilding it. Something...more
confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, intellectual dependency, and provisional self-esteem.
The national curriculum is a joke. And what is different from this book compared to others; he doesn't just list the things that are wrong with the system or bash the system, Mr. Gatto gives suggestions of tearing the institution apart and rebuilding it. Something...more
Apr 11, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
parents that want their children to learn. homeschoolers and teachers
Shelves:
my-books-read
After reading this book I was reassured that homeschooling my children was the best answer. The author is a teacher, and writes why he feels the school system is failing our children and our family. He is very big on interacting as a community rather than a network. He mentions things that had happened in the past, as far back as the time of Plato. The last chapter, did focus on religion, which made me a little uneasy. If it wasn't for that, then I would have given this book 5 stars. I would rec...more
Ugh, this book may have brought on my mid-life crisis. Not because Gatto is wrong, but because he's right. The education system isn't just broken, it's taking completely the wrong approach. It's designed to kill the spirit of enquiry.
I've attended several hearings addressing formal student complaints where the student is alleging the college-level education they received was substandard because they were 1) asked to read a text book, and not given a teacher-written summary of all material that...more
I've attended several hearings addressing formal student complaints where the student is alleging the college-level education they received was substandard because they were 1) asked to read a text book, and not given a teacher-written summary of all material that...more
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Excellent. As with all my favourite books, I have lent it out and it is still out there! This book is proof that home educators are not obsessive nutcases, as he provides inside information on schooling in New York which spanned over 30 years. When I first got this book it followed me everywhere until I had finished it, even into the bath. This author can share my bath anytime, as long as I don't drop the book in, of course!
This book gets a big "meh" from me. First of all, it's not so much a book as a group of essays. And I had to laugh when I opened the book and the print was freaking 18 point. (Like maybe we're not bright enough to follow along with typical 12 point print?)
I also have a problem with someone who spent his whole career in New York school systems making broad sweeping statements about public education in general. I have a hard time believing that a New York City educator understands ANYTHING about t...more
I also have a problem with someone who spent his whole career in New York school systems making broad sweeping statements about public education in general. I have a hard time believing that a New York City educator understands ANYTHING about t...more
While worth reading as an wake up call to all who think the only problem with our educational system is that it needs more money it should be taken with a grain of salt, or rather a slat block. Gatto is correct that schools act as mainly propaganda for the elite class and he may even be correct that compulsory education should not be the law of the land. (At least at the high school level) What he is not not good at is showing the whole picture.
He says that he wants a fair discussion about the...more
He says that he wants a fair discussion about the...more
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When I finally found time, I read this in one sitting. Gatto is really a brilliant writer. I may not agree with each and every point that he makes, since I find him to be a bit extremist in some situations, but he is beyond thought-provoking. I keep a notebook for research purposes with quotes that I think I might use for future articles, and even after I finished reading this, I had to reopen it to copy down quotes that were still on my mind. AND I'm going to have to check it out of the library...more
"...the idea I began to explore was this one: that teaching is nothing like the art of painting, where, by the addition of material to a surface, an image is synthetically produced, but more like the art of sculpture, where, by the subtraction of material, an image already locked in the stone is enabled to emerge."
"People have to be allowed to make their own mistakes and try again, or they will never master themselves, although they may well seem to be competent when they have in fact only memor...more
"People have to be allowed to make their own mistakes and try again, or they will never master themselves, although they may well seem to be competent when they have in fact only memor...more
I’ve had this one on the shelf for some time and needed today that extra bit of Homeschooling High School encouragement to keep proper parental vision, especially as winter has returned to visit with bitter winds and blinding rain.
John Taylor Gatto, an award winning public school educator for over 30 years reveals how compulsory schooling indoctrinates students with secular liberal ideologies creating a society designed for “total state control of human life.” The most frightening aspect of Mr....more
John Taylor Gatto, an award winning public school educator for over 30 years reveals how compulsory schooling indoctrinates students with secular liberal ideologies creating a society designed for “total state control of human life.” The most frightening aspect of Mr....more
2 likes
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No other book has shaped my view about public school as much as this one. Gatto's analysis of the damage done to a student's curiosity is so incisive as to wake any educated parent to our failing school system.
I decided that normal people can home school their children after having read this book. Very influential and formative to how I want my children's education to be administered.
I decided that normal people can home school their children after having read this book. Very influential and formative to how I want my children's education to be administered.
Best book I've read on education so far. Makes it hard to take on the job I'm preparing for. It has its problems, like talking about how great and successful students were before compulsory schooling. I hear that a lot. The problem with this is that only people who wanted or were talented enough to be there, were. So, he isn't the first and won't be the last to neglect this fact when using statistics to shock the shit out of readers. He still has a point, and that is the main thing. I am not goi...more
Aug 14, 2007
Rebecca
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Educators and those interested in the ed. system
Shelves:
education
John Taylor Gatto's response to the educational system has long been an interest of my father's. It was recently that I decided to pick up his work and dive into his take on the educational system. I found myself appreciating his insight into the ways in which the traditional school system stifles creativing and personal educational progress in our students- I think I underlined something of note every few minutes! I would certainly recommend this book; particularly to teachers looking for some...more
This book is must-read for anyone with children, and it's a valuable book for everyone in general. John Taylor Gatto is an award-winning teacher and this book is a collection of some of the speeches he has given when receiving teaching awards. It is a book that makes you think, makes you question, and makes you wonder. You may not agree with everything Mr. Gatto has to say, but what he has to say will make you reflect back upon your own education and the education of your children. For that alon...more
Wow I just wrote a thoughtful and brilliant review of this book and then pushed the wrong button and lost. I will try to recap my brilliance. I just sat down and read this book this afternoon while watching my kids play at the park and in the yard and it was amazing and powerful. I am truly moved in ways that are uncomfortable. Do not read this book unless you are prepared to feel extremely uncomfortable with the statues quo of the educational system in this country. Before reading this I had al...more
John Gatto delivers a scathing indictment of the American educational system in a collection of essays and speeches he has written and made over the years. It was extremely interesting, and while I was somewhat skeptical at first (not about his indictment of the public school system, so much as his motives) he won me over. It is an interesting follow-up read after Slow Democracy. Slow Democracy was about gathering in a community for civil dialogue and coming to a slow and measured consensus abou...more
If there is any one book that could convince you to home school your kids, I'm pretty sure this is it. After reading this, I'm absolutely horrified by the realization of how much of my life was wasted in the public school system. All my boredom and disinterest during my school years makes so much sense now. They weren't training me to learn anything other than how to be another perfect little obedient consumerist soldier. I'm not sure I learned those lessons so well, considering my grade point a...more
John Taylor Gatto was awarded Teacher of the Year in the New York City school system -- twice. I would say that qualifies him to know something about teaching as well as the system within which he functions.
Gatto is convinced our public school education system is broken. We're graduating illiterate kids year after year, and the only solution we're ever given is to throw more money at the problem. Gatto contends that a federal one-size-fits-all school system cannot meet the needs of America's ch...more
Gatto is convinced our public school education system is broken. We're graduating illiterate kids year after year, and the only solution we're ever given is to throw more money at the problem. Gatto contends that a federal one-size-fits-all school system cannot meet the needs of America's ch...more
Only giving this two stars because Gatto did say a few things that I agree with regarding the structure and aims of the contemporary United States educational system. Other than that he's just another rich jackass that thinks he's above it all and can tell everyone else how to better live their lives without addressing any of the underlying issues, as if the trouble with public schools were the only thing we had to address and suddenly we'd be living in some egalitarian paradise. So much free ma...more
An extraordinary examination of compulsory schooling in American from a humanist’s perspective. Mr. Gatto has a rare talent for perceiving and exposing the facts surrounding age-segragated schooling and its consequences. Though I cannot agree with some of his conclusions because of my opposite worldview, I have found his method of communication to be succinct and powerful, providing an inside look, from an actual school teacher’s perspective, on the methods and principles that govern this instit...more
I enjoyed Gatto's ideas and his concise presentation in this collection of essays and speeches. His criticisms of the American public school system are depressingly accurate.
I had two problems with this book, though. First, his quotes and research/support is poorly documented (maybe due to the items of this collection originally being less academic writing; maybe due to his own seeming disapproval for academic writing and "experts").
The larger issue I take with the book (and the reason I could...more
I had two problems with this book, though. First, his quotes and research/support is poorly documented (maybe due to the items of this collection originally being less academic writing; maybe due to his own seeming disapproval for academic writing and "experts").
The larger issue I take with the book (and the reason I could...more
What an eye-opener! I wish I could remember who recommended this to me. I can't believe that in my almost 35-year career that I hadn't read this yet. This would be a great text to use in a foundations of education class; there could be great discussions! Because the book is basically a collection of speeches and essays, it is somewhat redundant. My main wish is that instead of merely criticizing the status quo, some more specific alternatives would be given. What would Gatto's ideal school look...more
Let me just begin by saying that I am fully aware of the failure of the public school system. In fact, I am 95% sure that I will be homeschooling my son for the first few years because I don't think a 5 year old needs to be in school 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Oh, and his school is, by definition, failing. I am 100% for school reform and school choice.
That being said, this was, generally speaking, a TERRIBLE book. For a man who laments the lack of logic taught to schoolchildren, he shows a re...more
That being said, this was, generally speaking, a TERRIBLE book. For a man who laments the lack of logic taught to schoolchildren, he shows a re...more
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This is definitely a 3.4 star book. A very quick read: I finished it in a good bit less than an hour of actual reading, and it's easily worth ten times that. It is tremendously subversive, and in a very wholesome way.
The author, John Taylor Gatto, is a fairly big deal in the NY state school system--Teacher of the Year and all that jazz--and his thesis is that our school system actually hinders learning. One of the analogies that he uses is the difference between a painter and a sculptor: a paint...more
The author, John Taylor Gatto, is a fairly big deal in the NY state school system--Teacher of the Year and all that jazz--and his thesis is that our school system actually hinders learning. One of the analogies that he uses is the difference between a painter and a sculptor: a paint...more
Thirty years of award-winning teaching in NYC's public schools led Gatto to conclude compulsive government school has nothing to do with education, as the back blurb says. Gatto sees a little too much evil in things like classrooms, schedules and peer groups, but on whole his critiques are helpful.
"One form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the State of Massuchusetts around 1850. It was rsisted--sometimes with guns--by an estimated eighty percent of the Massachusetts population, the la...more
"One form of compulsory schooling is an invention of the State of Massuchusetts around 1850. It was rsisted--sometimes with guns--by an estimated eighty percent of the Massachusetts population, the la...more
After reading this book, I never want to send my kids to school - at least not government schools. This book regarding schooling really seemed to fit with my political philosophy of non-agression/voluntary cooperation. I have been thinking lately about how schools can be "reformed" - but have always been uncomfortable with the fact that, by nature, school is a compulsory institution. This book helped me sort out my own feelings about school, my own intuition that it is somehow inherently flawed...more
OK... so, if not for Gatto's keen (IMHO) appraisal of the real purposes behind state schooling, it would've gotten only two stars. I appreciated a lot of the principles he discusses, but there are a couple rough edges that I couldn't get past.
First, it's a collection of speeches. As such, it's practically a transcript (if not precisely) - written in colloquial way that is actually downright awkward on occasion, for reading. Several times I had to stop, go back, and sort through the sentence stru...more
First, it's a collection of speeches. As such, it's practically a transcript (if not precisely) - written in colloquial way that is actually downright awkward on occasion, for reading. Several times I had to stop, go back, and sort through the sentence stru...more
1 like
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Gatto was an award-winning public school teacher of thirty years, but developed a distaste for the conformity and agenda that has become a part of our common American school system. He argues that long hours, forced learning, and teaching our children that there is only one right answer (not allowing them to question and come to their own conclusions) is actually hurting our childrens minds and will keep many from achieving their dreams and becoming independent thinkers. He also argues that our...more
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John Taylor Gatto is an American retired school teacher of 29 years and 8 months and author of several books on education. He is an activist critical of compulsory schooling and of what he characterizes as the hegemonic nature of discourse on education and the education professions.
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“I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my thirty years of teaching: schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators, but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers to care and do work very, very hard, the institution is psychopathic -- it has no conscience. It rings a bell and the young man in the middle of writing a poem must close his notebook and move to a different cell where he must memorize that humans and monkeys derive from a common ancestor.”
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40 people liked it
“What's gotten in the way of education in the United States is a theory of social engineering that says there is ONE RIGHT WAY to proceed with growing up.”
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10 people liked it
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Mar 01, 2008 09:45pm