I donโt think weโll get rid of schools any time soon, certainly not in my lifetime, but if weโre going to change whatโs rapidly becoming a disaster of ignorance, we need to realize that the institution โschoolsโ very well, but it does not โeducateโ; thatโs inherent in the design of the thing. Itโs not the fault of bad teachers or too little money spent. Itโs just impossible for education and schooling to be the same thing.
John Taylor GattoChildren learn what they live. Put kids in a class and they will live out their lives in an invisible cage, isolated from their chance at community; interrupt kids with bells and horns all the time and they will learn that nothing is important or worth finishing; ridicule them and they will retreat from human association; shame them and they will find a hundred ways to get even. The habits taught in large-scale organizations are deadly.
John Taylor GattoIn a home school, the kid does 95% of the work. But in a school system, since it's an indoctrination system, a teacher has to do 95% of the work.
John Taylor GattoThe economy schoolchildren currently expect to live under and serve would not survive a generation of young people trained to think critically.
John Taylor GattoLooking back on a 30-year teaching career full of rewards and prizes, somehow I can't completely believe that I spent my time on earth institutionalized; I can't believe that centralized schooling is allowed to exist at all as a gigantic indoctrination and sorting machine, robbing people of their children. Did it really happen? Was this my life? God help me.
John Taylor Gatto