Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

published	2005 by New Society Publishers
binding	Hardcover and Paperback
isbn	086571519X (isbn13: 9780865715196)
ebook
pages	144
description	A highly praised bestseller for over a decade, Dumbing Us Down is a radical treatise on public education that concludes that compulsory gove...more [close] 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. John Gatto was a teacher in New York City's public schools for over 30 years and is a recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year award. A much-sought after speaker on education throughout North America, his other books include A Different Kind of Teacher (Berkeley Hills Books, 2001) and The Underground History of American Education (Oxford Village Press, 2000). [close]
date added	03-02-07 edit book

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Carm rated it:

08/09/08

Read in August, 2008

This book's dismal tone from start to finish made the read an unpleasant one for me. The format also left much to be desired. The book had 35 pages of preamble in the form of foreword, introduction, publisher's note from the first edition, and about the author. The following five chapters over 94 pages were reprinted speeches or essays that lacked flow or transition and didn't truly follow through on what I thought the book would offer. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Scho...more This book's dismal tone from start to finish made the read an unpleasant one for me. The format also left much to be desired. The book had 35 pages of preamble in the form of foreword, introduction, publisher's note from the first edition, and about the author. The following five chapters over 94 pages were reprinted speeches or essays that lacked flow or transition and didn't truly follow through on what I thought the book would offer. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling is something I set out to read eager to see if Gatto was going to corroborate some of my own ideas about public schools in our country. Instead, he seemed to not understand schools at all. At least, not as I've witnessed them. His credibility was instantly damaged,in my eyes, and it was difficult to lend much credence to his words. Furthermore, his tone was such that I was irritated and had he been a TV (he'd like this reference)I would have changed the channel. :)

Some of his points in the "Seven Lesson Schoolteacher" were things I could agree with. Where he loses me is his vehemence with which he lambastes all schoolteachers and schools as falling into this trap. Sure, even if one is to assume his theory is correct and the entire machine of public education is broken in the United States, not every school, not every teacher is the demon he makes them out to be. And furthermore WHAT exactly is his solution? It's VERY clear he doesn't believe in school reform. Just get rid of all compulsory schooling. Abandon the public school idea. Okay. So we do home schools or create schools in a private club sense. But what of the two income family. Surely it's not SCHOOL that is robbing them of the ability to spend family time together but the necessity of earning enough money to get by. Some people have the ability to live off one income, many do not have that luxury. How does this idea factor in for Mr. Gatto's grand solution? This was something I felt he needed to explore if he was going to make such broad declarations.

I felt that much of what Gatto was stating was dated. Since 1992 there's been a standards movement that serves to create continuum of ideas and skills from kindergarten to grade 12 in areas like reading, math, writing and more. More teachers are using best practices and teaching using inquiry based methods. Nothing he wrote addressed these things because it's only in the past 15 years that these things have been flourishing. His final chapter makes mention of standards, once again with a disparaging word. What is ironic, is that in an earlier chapter schools were lambasted for lacking these standards and continuum and connectivity in curriculum and then in the congregational chapter he denounces the the presence of the very thing he was shaming schools for not doing. Not only is Gatto, inconsistent, he is unrealistic, and it seems his way if it were followed to the letter would leave HUGE groups of people with no education at all, nor any realistic or fair way to get it.

In chapter three, Gatto says of his subbing experience in New York City,

"After three months the dismal working conditions, the ugly roms, the torn books, the repeated insistences of petty complaints from authorities, the bells, the buzzers, the drab teacher food in the cafeterias, the unpressed clothing, the inexplicable absence of conversation about children among the teachers (to this day, after thirty years in the business, I can honestly say I have never once heard an extended conversation about children or about teaching theory in any teacher's rooms I've been in) had just about done me in."

This quote just about did me in. I cannot fathom working in an environment like he's described. None of that characterizes my school or others I've worked in. And in 30 years to never have heard an extended conversation about children or teaching theory? What kind of planet is this guy from. Not only are teaching theory and school improvement topics that are discussed at length in our teacher's lounge, in our Monday morning staffings, at staff meetings, and during our professional learning community meetings, but we also regularly express concerns about various students and pool resources, information, and ideas about how to help particular students achieve their learning potential. We approach our students with a team approach and this at a high school level. So, I find Mr. Gatto very much mistaken. Perhaps no one wanted to discuss theory with HIM. :) In fact, if I were creating my own select village as he describes in chapter five, I'm pretty sure he would not be invited to stay.

I'd sort of like to pair Steven Levitt (Freakonomics) and John Gatto and see what sorts of correlations could be drawn from some of the ideas Gatto puts forth with no statistical evidence whatsoever, aside from his own 30 years of what appears to be pretty limited experience.

If you are looking for a book with some radical ideas about public schools and the ways they damage kids and destroy families, be sure to pick this book up. If you are like me and just want so understand a bit more about the underside of public schools, you might find what you want here, but take this with a block of salt and be prepared for some grating, over-the-top, generalizations....less

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Ben rated it:

10/17/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: Teachers

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 discuss...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 subject but then engages in the same type of propganda he says he is against. For instance he hold Mass. in the early 1700's up as a model of how good life was before the socialization of schools, he claims that some studies show literacy was as high as 98%. However he leaves a few key facts out, the first is that there was compulsory education in that time, in the 1640's (starting in 1642) Mass. passed laws that made every town larger than 50 people higher a town educator, and every town over 100 families build a school, a few years later ('48) laws were passed that made compulsory the teaching of reading, laws, the Catechism and "some honest lawful calling, labour or employment." by either the parent or some sort of "master" If he is against schools as a socializing force then it would seem that he should be against the system he is praising that socialized children to the laws of the Catholic church.

The second fact he leaves out is context. He states that the lack of schooling and childrens curiosity led to these high literacy rates. He leaves out that most other countries (and colonies for that matter) did not have compulsory education. England is an example of one of these countries and their literacy rates have been shown in studies to be somewhere around 40-60% It appears that a closer look at his argument shows the opposite to be true in the case of literacy. The non compulsory areas had lower rates than Mass. this leads me to think that it is not compulsory education that is the problem, but rather the state of the current education system in America.

The third problem seems to be fairly obvious. As far as I could tell looking around, the studies show the literacy rates for citizens in a time when black people and women were not considered citizens, not to mention the study takes place in Mass. which was one of the most affluent colonies.

Since this is getting long I will not get into some of the other problems I see in his arguments, including a misrepresentation of Deweys ideas, and instead leave it with a note on his motives. If you go to his website you will see a link to a group he started called the Odysseus group (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com... who's primary goal is for government schools to "forced to compete." and that "Free market choice will improve government schools, too" it seems fairly contradictory to me that someone who speaks against schools as a tool of the elite class would want to turn education over to the free market that has created so many problems (Enron, Water wars in Bolivia, Jail privitazions, Iraq, Health care industry in America, privitazion of the military in Iraq that has led to Blackwater, Halliburton, etc...) To sum up his argument it seems to be this: Industry has taken a hold of our schools and acts as a propaganda tool to socialize children to work in various industries unquestiongly, the short term solution? Give complete control over to these industries.

Again, this is not coming from some right winger trying to attack new ideas, I agree with most of what Gatto says about schools being a propaganda tool. I just disagree with his solutions and his propaganda as well. If you don't believe me look at my other book selections.

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Bobbi rated it:

11/21/07

John Taylor Gatto, who was both the NYC and NY State Teacher of the year multiple times, resigned via a Wall Street Journal editorial. I like his style. The man is a flippin' genius.

Gatto, along with John Holt, Charlotte Mason, and Jessie Wise Bauer, have hugely influenced my philosophies and practices in raising and educating my children.

All parents should at least listen to what this gentleman has to say when choosing how to educate their kids. This is not the "conservativ...more

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Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

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