I just heard a recording of an outstanding speech by John Taylor Gatto called “A Short, Angry History of Modern Schooling.” Check out his website. If you feel like you are only one person, check out what one person can do. Wow.
Audio Clip: “The Paradox of Extended Childhood” ~ a Gatto Lecture at Cambridge, Massachusetts
John Gatto on Public Education
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I’m a huge fan of Gatto.I’ve heard a number of his speeches and essays, plus he was on CSpan once. His online book An Underground History of American Education is at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm . In my opinion, 80%-90% of compulsory schooling is a sad joke. It’s an expensive babysitting service and jobs program.
“The shocking possibility that dumb people don’t exist in sufficient numbers to warrant the millions of careers devoted to tending them will seem incredible to you. Yet that is my central proposition: the mass dumbness which justifies official schooling first had to be dreamed of; it isn’t real.”
This is a 50-second clip where he confirms the point that school records tell us little about an individual’ ability: Dubya was at least average in college, Bill Bradley was a bad student, and AL GORE FLUNKED 6 OUT OF 7 COURSES DURING HIS FRESHMAN YEAR AT HARVARD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t0m0zxtuwQ
Speaking of Harvard, Gatto’s explains that James Bryant Conant (former Harvard President) played an important role in creating our modern schooling system post World War II. During the early 20th century,the non-profit Education Trust formed by (if I remember correctly) major industrialists like Rockefeller & Carnegie funded some ridiculous percentage (40%? 60%?) of all school curriculum NATIONWIDE.
Gatto says that schooling in 19th century was much better than before the Education Trusts got a hold of the school system in later decades. Literacy was VERY HIGH and considered such a basic and easy skill to learn that some elementary schools required attendants to already know how to read before attending.