2. “Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling,” by John Taylor Gatto

“I urge you to examine in your own mind the assumptions which must lay behind using the police power to insist that once-sovereign spirits have no choice but to submit to being schooled by strangers.”

— John Taylor Gatto

A common misconception exists that tells us our school system is “broken.” The idea is that inequity in our schools — whether that’s racial inequity, gender inequity, or any other sort — can be “fixed,” and that our public schools are inherently good and well-intentioned.

Unfortunately, this is not exactly the case. America’s system of mandatory public schooling is, in fact, one of our primary systems of oppression, and it has been fulfilling the dark purpose of sorting, tracking and conditioning for generations — exactly as it was designed to do, and in spite of the good and loving people working within it.

John Taylor Gatto was a two-time teacher of the year in New York State in the 1990s, and his writing tickles the part of me that recognizes long-buried, long-ignored truths. What do I want for my children? How do I want them to spend their days as they grow up?

We cannot expect to build a world that values all life and reflects our deepest-held values if we only educate our kids in familiar ways. Gatto’s words will help push you through the doorway to the new world with confidence. You won’t even look back.

“I don’t think we’ll get rid of schools any time soon, certainly not in my lifetime, but if we’re going to change what’s rapidly becoming a disaster of ignorance, we need to realize that the institution “schools” very well, but it does not ‘educate;’ that’s inherent in the design of the thing. It’s not the fault of bad teachers or too little money spent. It’s just impossible for education and schooling to be the same thing.”

— John Taylor Gatto