The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. John Taylor Gatto More Quotes by John Taylor Gatto More Quotes From John Taylor Gatto Although teachers do 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. John Taylor Gatto notebookteachermoving Looking 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 teachingbelievechildren I've concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven't yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves. John Taylor Gatto learningmenthinking Close reading of tough-minded writing is still the best, cheapest, and quickest method known for learning to think for yourself... Reading, and rigorous discussion of that reading in a way that obliges you to formulate a position and support it against objections, is an operational definition of education... reading, analysis, and discussion is the way we develop reliable judgment, the principle way we come to penetrate covert movements behind the facade of public appearances. John Taylor Gatto readingwritingthinking The premise upon which mass compulsion schooling is based is dead wrong. It tries to shoehorn every style, culture, and personality into one ugly boot that fits nobody. John Taylor Gatto stylepersonalityschool The old system where every child was locked away and set into nonstop, daily cut throat competition with every other child for silly prizes called grades is broken beyond repair. If it could be fixed it could have been fixed by now. Good riddance. John Taylor Gatto learningsillychildren Who besides a degraded rabble would voluntarily present itself to be graded and classified like meat? No wonder school is compulsory. John Taylor Gatto meatwonderschool Self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge. John Taylor Gatto self-knowledgebasesself It was never factually true that young people learn to read or do arithmetic primarily by being taught these things. These things are learned, but not really taught at all. Over-teaching interferes with learning, although the few who survive it may well come to imagine it was by an act of teaching. John Taylor Gatto learningteachingpeople • As society rapidly changes, individuals will have to be able to function comfortably in a world that is always in flux. Knowledge will continue to increase at a dizzying rate. This means that a content-based curriculum, with a set body of information to be imparted to students, is entirely inappropriate as a means of preparing children for their adult roles. John Taylor Gatto adultsmeanchildren Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist. John Taylor Gatto individualuniqueshould Creative work and critical thought, which produces new knowledge, can't be conditioned; indeed, conditioning prevents these things from ever happening. John Taylor Gatto conditioninglearningcreative 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. John Taylor Gatto engineeringunited-statesgrowing-up People are less than whole unless they gather themselves voluntarily into groups of souls in harmony. Gathering themselves to pursue individual, family, and community dreams consistent with their private humanity is what makes them whole; only slaves are gathered by others. John Taylor Gatto communitydreampeople School is the first impression children get of organized society. Like most first impressions it is the lasting one. Life is dull and stupid, only Coke provides relief. And other products, too, of course. John Taylor Gatto stupidchildrenschool Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid. John Taylor Gatto egyptianpyramidsschool Genius is an exceedingly common human quality, probably natural to most of us. John Taylor Gatto learningeducationalinspirational Individuality, family, and community are, by definition, expressions of singular organization, never of "one-right-way" thinking on the grand scale. Children and families need some relief from government surveillance and intimidation if original expressions belonging to THEM are to develop. Without these freedom has no meaning. John Taylor Gatto governmentchildrenthinking School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. John Taylor Gatto jailyearsschool ...good things happen to the human spirit when it is left alone. John Taylor Gatto good-thingsspiritinspiring
