Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor GattoMy review
rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
This little book is life-changing. Not in a wonderful, affirming way like reading the scriptures but similar in the recognition of the Truth being told. Admittedly a bit of a downer, Gatto also uses perhaps a few too many personal anecdotes and too little empirical data, yet it becomes (quickly & uncomfortably) impossible to doubt the veracity of his claim - that public schooling is bad in a way that cannot be reformed but only revolutionized.
He has a much more in-depth treatise on the subject (The Underground History of American Education) that I'm confident removes the heavy personalization in this text (which should be understood as this book is compiled of speeches the author has given, often while accepting personal accolades). So now, as the mother of three children, one currently school-age, what to do? Much more reading is in store.
View all my reviews.
P.S. A little note about GoodReads... I'm newly signed up and a little bit addicted. It's like when I started with Netflix and (since they suggest movies for you based on your ratings) I spent hours rating movies and adding movies to my queue. So now with GoodReads, even though I only have 9 "friends" so far, I feel compelled to rate, and sometimes review, not only some of my very favorite books but also some of my least favorite. (My ratings do figure into the total rating for the book, so I feel a little like it's social engineering - trying to knock the Twilight books down a notch, for instance.) Anyway, it's fun trying to remember that one book about India that I read for bookclub five years ago and loved so much (City of Joy), etc. I'm not exactly sure the point of my post-script, but I guess you can consider this a plug for the website.
I haven't read the book about public education, but I do doubt the validity of an author who has few "facts" to back up his personal claims. I just know from my own personal experience as a mother of five children, who volunteered in all the schools, and then, being a substitute teacher for the last eleven years, that the children that come to public school are different than they were ten years ago. And, having met some of the parents of these children, it isn't any wonder the kids are the way they are! Having been in the classroom when college-age student teachers are "teaching", I can see that some students in college are not learning the skills they need to be "good and effective" teachers. And now I get to my point: because I had the opportunity to be a "stay-at-home" mom, I made it a point to listen to my kids, go over the work and assignments of the day, and find out what my child was faced with. If there was a question about something, I didn't hesitate to call the school, meet with the teacher, discuss with administrators, etc. Public education, though lacking in some areas more than others, is still better than most countries. The key is to be involved as parents. You can not leave the entire education of your child to the teachers!
ReplyDeleteI think I must respectfully disagree. Some facts are known outside of this publication (which I should probably have mentioned was written by the most decorated public school teacher in NY state history) but one fact I'm sad you are misinformed on Carma is that the US public schools are NOT still one of the best but actually somewhere in the 15th-20th in a ranking of nations... we mingle with 2nd-world countries. Though, interestingly, it is the very "industrialization" of education (and the training of teachers) which has, in Gatto's opinion, destroyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe author does use facts... It was written about 15 years ago and has been followed up by many scholarly works. I think what I meant was that this is not a statistics book, it is a compilation of essays meant to clarify questions on every parent & educators mind, and encourage further investigation. Which, rest assured, I will do.