“Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, may have been one of the most enlightening things i’ve ever read. For the reason that it has really brought light to things I never had seen or though of before. At first the article was pretty boring to me and I found myself zoning in and out of the reading from time to time up until I finally found myself confused at where he asked the question of, “Could it be that are schools are designed to make sure not one of them ever really grows up?” This was due to me not knowing the grave severity of what was to come, but as I advanced in the text I also started to see and make sense of what Gatto was getting at. He had been asking a question that I myself have asked myself for nearly my entire life. “What is the point of school?” This question has always been followed by another question of “why can’t we just be taught the basics of reading, writing, and math then proceed to college, where we can learn what we WANT to learn?” Little did I know I wasn’t alone in pondering this. He then goes on to explain what the true purpose of school is, which to me is the part that really has made me feel as though I’d just been saved. He talks about how the school system is designed to make mindless and submissive workers of people. At first I found the statement to be outrageous, but it slowly made sense as he further listed out how exactly its executed in a series of steps that are of Prussian origin. This article overall has brought me to many questions like, “why isn’t this article well renowned?”, “could we possibly change the system?”
