When I first read “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto I found myself skipping numerous paragraphs which was the reason why I was not able to comprehend everything. After trying a different approach, I found myself engaged in reading more and finally understood the previous paragraphs I struggled with.
The approach I tried, which brings shock to me because it actually worked, was to tell myself that I wanted to read the text. The very first time I read the passage, I got discouraged quickly due to the many paragraphs and pages but surprisingly, after trying this method I found myself reading non-stop. There was a quote I found relatable but did not pay much attention until I started rereading. Gatto mentioned “The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin’s theory of natural selection as applied to what he called “the favored races.”(4)
Back when I was in high school, I was in an international accelerated program where students were divided into 2 groups, the upper-class and the lower-class. Even though we all paid the same tuition rate, wore the same uniforms, studied in the same class, we never really were the same. It wasn’t only the teachers but most of the students had this “selective” mindset implemented too where the rich kids would only hang out with each other and us lower/middle-class are just species at the bottom of the food chain.
Another method I tried was taking breaks when my eyes started feeling heavy, I pushed through the texts I found boring and also drank a lot of water as it was proven it may help improve focus. Overall, the paragraphs that were previously vague now makes sense to me and rereading gave me a better understanding of what Gatto was trying to say.
