It only takes about 50 contact hours to transmit basic literacy and math skills well enough that kids can be self-teachers from then on. The cry for 'basic skills' practice is a smokescreen behind which schools pre-empt the time of children for twelve years and teach them the six lessons I've just taught you.
John Taylor GattoA lot of the strings that hold us like puppets are really inventions of our own minds. I'm not saying that there aren't armies and police and various ways to punish deviants, but there isn't any way to punish a large number of deviants. It's too expensive to even try. So, the solution is to colonize the minds of children as they're growing up, so that they become their own police, and to report on others who are deviating.
John Taylor GattoYou can make your own son or daughter one of a kind if you have the time and will to do so; school can only make them part of a hive, herd or anthill.
John Taylor GattoThis was once a land where every sane person knew how to build a shelter, grow food, and entertain one another. Now we have been rendered permanent children. Itโs the architects of forced schooling who are responsible for that.
John Taylor Gatto