false 3429724 1 <p>John Taylor Gatto's <i>Weapons of Mass Instruction</i> focuses on mechanisms of familiar schooling that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a by-product of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, <i>Dumbing Us Down</i>, put that now-famous expression of the title into common use worldwide. <i>Weapons of Mass Instruction</i> promises to add another chilling metaphor to the brief against schooling.</p><p>Here is a demonstration that the harm school inflicts is quite rational and deliberate, following high-level political theories constructed by Plato, Calvin, Spinoza, Fichte, Darwin, Wundt, and others, which contend the term "education" is meaningless because humanity is strictly limited by necessities of biology, psychology, and theology. The real function of pedagogy is to render the common population manageable.</p><p>Realizing that goal demands that the young be conditioned to rely upon experts, remain divided from natural alliances, and accept disconnections from the experiences that create self-reliance and independence.</p><p>Escaping this trap requires a different way of growing up, one Gatto calls "open source learning." In chapters such as "A Letter to Kristina, my Granddaughter"; "Fat Stanley"; and "Walkabout:London," this different reality is illustrated.</p><p><b>John Taylor Gatto</b> taught for thirty years in public schools before resigning from school-teaching in the op-ed pages of <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> during the year he was named New York State's official Teacher of the Year. Since then, he has traveled three million miles lecturing on school reform.</p> 3470619 1 10 2008 Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling total:48|5:17|4:17|3:10|2:3|1:1| 48 190 144 25 2 1 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 18 13:44:12 -0800 2009 Sat Jun 06 08:58:49 -0700 2009 The author's earlier "Dumbing Us Down" was better

When it comes to the useful contents, this book is only repeating what was already told in the author’s earlier work "Dumbing Us Down." And, personally, I think it is a much better book than this one. It is shorter an...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 06 17:35:03 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 17:44:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 11:28:52 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 17:50:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 18:24:28 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 10:00:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 09:08:10 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:01:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 19:22:34 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 11:16:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 10:35:09 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 14:38:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 06:28:48 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 10:06:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Sep 27 03:14:14 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 03:15:07 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 20:05:08 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 20:06:48 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Sun Oct 04 13:34:56 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 06:02:25 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 12:47:23 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 10:23:40 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu May 21 00:44:50 -0700 2009 Sat May 16 22:33:47 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 00:44:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 22:39:56 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 22:41:10 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Aug 14 07:29:17 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 17:58:34 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 10 19:11:19 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 19:12:06 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 09 16:34:48 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 09:23:07 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 12:22:42 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 19:53:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 04:37:08 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 05:17:08 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 10:15:40 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 12 14:03:00 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3429724