In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto argues that the American public school system conditions children to be gullible, mindless consumers. This was not my personal experience with school from kindergarten through high school. While attending school I did not see the school system doing anything to make the students gullible or waving the next hot product in our faces in order to turn us into mindless consumers. Instead, students brought items into school that they saw influencers such as artists and entertainers advertise while out of school. Gatto argues that the school system turns students into “addicts” and “children”. I believe that the American school system is not as bad or corrupt as Gatto claims based on personal experience.
In the article Gatto states that “School has done a pretty good job of turning our children into addicts, but it has done a spectacular job of turning our children into children” (5). I believe that the school system has not created immature human beings, but instead has matured many students through teaching them about the importance of responsibility. While in school I learned that I was responsible for my own tasks and assignments. Not being responsible for my school work would lead to my failure so in order to succeed I had to take care of my own work. This taught me not only responsibility, but independence as well. Independence, which is doing things for yourself, would lead to students maturing and not having to depend on anyone. The school system has helped me by teaching me how to be responsible and independent.
Gatto does not agree that the school system teaches responsibility, independence and maturity. He even states that “Theorists from Plato to Rousseau to our own Dr. Inglis knew that if children could be cloistered with other children, stripped of responsibility and independence, encouraged to develop only the trivializing emotions of greed, envy, jealousy, and fear, they would grow older but never truly grow up” (5). Although children are put together in school, they still have to be independently responsible for tasks inside and outside of the classroom. Kids being put together leads to learning teamwork, leadership and communication. It prepares them to connect and work with others outside of a school environment. This practice of communication defeats fear rather than producing it by getting rid of problems such as social anxiety. School doesn’t make students greedy. It fuels their hunger for success by showing them that with responsibility and hard work you will be rewarded with success.
Without someone going through the school system, what they learn may vary. They may not learn to be mature at all due to the lack of responsibility without school at young ages. There is the rare case however, when people are very successful without an education or any guidance. I believe that this is not guaranteed at all. Gatto believes that it is very likely and says “Even if they hadn’t, a considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve- year wringer our kids currently go through, and they turn out all right. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln?” (2). Not everyone is cut out to be or can be president, but some can be successful without a school education. School is less of a risk than wandering without guidance. Also, many of the people who make it big without school presently are the ones who endorse products and turn children into mindless consumers whether or not they go to school.
I believe that school isn’t the mindless consumer factory that Gatto thinks it is. School isn’t as bad as he describes. Through personal experience the school system has helped me more than hurt me. It has guided me as far as I am now. I have successfully completed the K-12 American school system and have knowledge and experience to take with me past it. School does teach responsibility and independence through hard work which leads to maturity.
