In the article “Against School,” John Taylor Gatto argues that the American public school system conditions children to be gullible, mindless consumers. In other words, he believed that due to the system students with the possibility of excelling were not nurtured properly to reach their full potential. In comparison to what Gatto describes, the teachers in my school were the opposite and motivated us that we were able to do great things if we set our mind to it.
Like any typical schools, I too experienced the deadly routine, “six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years.”(Gatto 2) I agree that at first I never understood why I had to go through this system, it seemed like I had to go to school just to fit in with the other Indonesian students. According to Gatto, “we have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of “success” as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, “schooling.”(2) I strongly agree that being schooled does not guarantee any form of success towards students. On the other hand, this does not serve as an excuse to throw away your chance of getting the education you deserve.
As my school adopted Singapore’s education system, we also followed the Cambridge examinations curriculum. In this system, we were taught solely based on textbooks and worksheets, although, I do not entirely agree with this method of teaching as it creates a closed discussion on other possible answers and theories. Nevertheless, the school was still known to excel students in academics and human skills. We were taught advanced mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics during the eighth grade. Later on, during the ninth grade, we were split into two majors: business and science.
The reason why our school had to split the students into two majors was to give them the opportunity to focus on which majors they felt could be advantageous for their future major in college. Regardless, both majors had exams almost every three weeks and would usually be six to seven pages thick. None of our teachers made it easy. They made sure we experienced “deep learning, the kind that demands both understanding and remembering of relationships, causes, effects and implications for new or different situations.”(Leamnson 4) Thus, our exams contained only essays and short answers.
As stressful as this sounds, and I have even shed some tears due to the stress, I cannot deny that my school was what helped me survive my current challenge which is college. Not only did they help students excel in academics, but they also promoted fund-raising events to help the less fortunate. We would visit orphanages and hold talent shows where the students themselves would put on small shows like singing or acting. We would also come to school earlier to make packaged meals for the kids and staff. It was also the school’s idea to chip in a few extra changes from our pocket money to donate for families living in the villages that needed assistance for giving their children the education they deserved.
I was lucky enough to encounter teachers that were willing to spend their time to tutor me without a fee and recommended me to programs and competitions that might be beneficial for my personal experience. Gatto states that “your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.”(5) Although I did not receive this from a public school and indeed private schools are not on the affordable side, I am living proof that going through the “deadly routine” benefited me, in a way, in the long run. I matured sooner than most people my age, learned to appreciate more for what I have than what I do not and apply what I learned in high school into college and the real world.
Granted that I was only able to tell my side of the story from my experience at a private high school outside the United States, I am not able to justify if what Gatto describes the American public school system as “laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands.”(5) to be true. According to Leamnson, “learning is not something that just happens to you, it is something that you do to yourself.”(1) This rings true to me as I encountered multiple students from my school blaming the teachers for giving too many tests and homework when they did not put in the time and effort to get the work done. Overall, it depends on the students if they are willing to learn and use their education as an investment for their future.
