Summary Of Against School By John Taylor Gatto

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Recommended: Importance of motivating learners and teachers

John Taylor Gatto in his essay “Against School” explains the lack of motivation that students have to the educational system of the USA. He also explains the damage that the system makes to both, students and teachers, by the non-interesting topics they are taught in class. Furthermore, he enlightens the indifference of students towards the teacher, seem as incompetent and unprepared. In addition, he also highlights the dark side of the school system which intends to brainwash and rescind the ideas from students. He addresses a main goal of the educational system; convert juveniles into the next docile and manageable generation. Wherefore, he proposes an educational system that should be structured and not controlled. In addition, he demonstrates …show more content…

An educational system should not control its students’ minds; instead, it should be arranged in a way that builds the students’ success with a goal to lead a person to conquer his/her purposes.
The U.S educational system’s purpose is to control the minds of its students that will be the future leaders of the country. Juveniles are being taught that in order to have a nice car, branded clothes and the house of their dreams, by getting into an expensive mortgage, they have to be an employee of a huge corporation. In addition, they have to undergo to a prestigious school, study hard, have excellent grades in order to become popular and respectable in the world. However, many people would not become those super leaders, but these majorities of people have a great role in the capitalistic society of the US. As Gatto says, “We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair” (38). …show more content…

Gatto claims that a person can succeed in life without being attached to an educational system. Centuries ago, mothers used to role as a teacher for their children. In effect, the mother used to care and build the future of her children by teaching them how to be successful in society. Therefore, there was none meaning in sending their children to school. For instance, the American icons, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not attend to an educational establishment and succeeded in life. As Gatto narrates, “Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever "graduated" from a secondary school.” (34). However, those decades are long gone, and society has moved on. Children need education to become good citizens of a society, but without being submerged into a corrupted educational system. To the contrary, the educational system should be reformed to be energetic and amusing making students hungry for knowledge and teachers motivated to give not only educational topics but live values as

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