While reading “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, I can honestly say he lost me a couple of times. Although I agree with many of his points, I feel that at times he said a mouthful. Maybe it’s because I’m not a person that’s interested in history but he really lost my attention when he brought up old history facts. When reading about Prussia, Karl Marx’s conception, World War 1, World War 2,etc. I couldn’t help but feel like I was back in global class. I felt like I was being bombarded with too much information, too many references and I began to forget what his purpose was. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with his take on the educational system for example,”Is this deadly routine necessary? And if so, for what? George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were products of a school system, and not one of them was ever “graduated” from a secondary school.”(2) I do agree that school is not for everyone but you have to have some kind of plan. Plenty of people find a way to educate themselves without attending school. But as a writer, I think you have to think about what information your reader will find interesting and what will throw them off. It really is a great article and I like how opinionated he is but I believe he could’ve gotten his point across without overloading us with history.
