Hadeel Abuhamda
February 18, 2019
English 1101
Fuck School; Itâs Time for a Change
What if your little brother or sister comes home from school one day and tells you that he/she doesnât want to go to school anymore because they arenât learning anything. The teachers in their school doesnât teach. In John Gatto’s article “Against School” he argues that the American public-school system conditions children to be gullible, mindless consumers. Looking back at my four years in high school I realize I agree with him. I went to Canarsie high school and it came with the shittiest teachers. When I was in high school I was thrown a textbook by my Global Studies teacher, Mr. Severin. He would always say…”read page 554″ then go in his little corner, kick his feet up and go to sleep. Teachers like this thatâs in our educational system honestly and truthfully need to go. In my experience teachers care more about how students were behaving than what they are learning.
When I first read âAgainst Schoolâ I was surprised to find the truth in Gattoâs statements regarding education in school. We are repeatedly told information and expected to memorize which formula or equation to use. We then proceed to have tests and quizzes repeating the same formulas using different numbers. The end result is a chain that gives us Aâs and Bâs, but at what cost? We are receiving letter grades that are meaningless in life. Life is about understanding and developing thought based on reasoning. It does not revolve around receiving a formula and getting a meaningless number.
Although the K-12 education system in the United States is filled with issues, like boring content, careless educators and a curriculum with useless information, it is a necessary part of our society. Gatto says, ââŚtheir teachers were every bit as bored as they (the students) were.â (1) While Iâve definitely been in many classes where the only thing I care about is how fast the seconds tick away from the class being over. I believe that our education system is necessary to give children an education to hopefully improve their lives and their future. Gatto gives the examples of Carnegie, Twain and Farragut among others as successful people who did NOT receive a high school education. Similar examples could be pulled from todayâs society just like Bill Gates and Steve jobs who both did not complete college. The problem now is that when we go to college, we are exposed to the small percentage of people who were able to figure out the meaning of education in life, or in my case, to the percentage of people who had the most terrible education and felt stuck.
In college, we have to read the material, and actually understand what the professor is hinting at, not like in high school where you can just be cool with the teacher, not do any work and they will pass you. I actually have experienced that before; you just had to be friends/cool with the teacher and they pass you. In high school, my US history teacher didnât really teach good because of the simple fact that he didnât like what the educational system makes the teachers teach and how they teach it. He said, âthe way they want us to teach and how they want us to teach it is wrong, so therefore I will not be teaching like that.â So, he taught his students what he thought was ârightâ even though the tests we had to take was nothing like what he taught. Passing your classes in my high school consisted of a good friendship with your teacher and thats how I passed all my classes. Gatto states, ââŚteachers didnât know much about their subjects and clearly werenât interested in learning more.â (1) My US history teacher was a living example of this quote.
In conclusion, the educational system is not perfect and, in my opinion, it will never be close to perfect. Although, I believe that our education system is necessary to give children an education to hopefully improve their lives and their future. In the article âAgainst Schoolâ Gatto argues that the American public-school system conditions children to be gullible, mindless consumers and I agree.
work cited
“Against School” by John Taylor Gatto