Against School

I found Gatto's essay Against School very interesting. I had a hard time agreeing with his argument. over the weekend I read 1984 by George Orwell. Thanks for the suggestion Chelsi. I thought it was interesting how Gatto's impression of the school much like that of the totalitarianism Party in 1984. The party doesn't want people to think for themselves, thus they control thoughts, actions and even language to control and gain power over the people. Gatto even mentions 2 main groups in the school. The minority who get a liberal education or a higher, better, education, and the the larger class to forgo the privileges of a liberal education. In 1984 there is the same idea. The educated and leaders called the inner party have privileges whereas the outer party and the proles have all the manual labor and are taught to conform and not think for themselves. I really don't think that our schools have gone to that extreme as is found in 1984, but I do believe that as parents we need to be more involved and teach our children to think critically and independently and learn all aspects of education like philosophy, art music, and history. Teacher and parents alike have the responsibility to educate children as much as possible so they can grow and lead in the future.