The biggest problem I had with Gatto’s article was similar to what one of the guys in class had brought up. If this document has been viewed by millions then why has nothing changed? Doesn’t what he is saying mean that were doing it all wrong? And if so, it’s been six years and nothing has been modified. Gatto makes an endless number of valid points and I have been convinced he is generally on the right track. I don’t like school any more than then next guy but how can the “oppressors” read this and not be influenced into switching up something in the “prisons” we call school.
A lot of what we have been reading has been a tad repetitious, but it all works toward explaining his views more thoroughly. He makes us humans seem like a bunch of dumb idiots for following what the rest of the world has done for hundreds of years. It’s not like we’re failing as a race. We do very well for ourselves because of how school has trained us to go about life. Some people are born smarter and some end up going into remedial classes to perfect their imperfections. Does that not seem like a good idea? We are shifted around into different groups of intelligence for a reason. The smart people have business to get done. By that I mean they are the ones that end up responsible for all of the huge leaps forward we have every decade or so. Inventors, astronomers, scientists, teachers, lawyers, and many more that help us to develop and run a successful society that as we can see today has done a pretty damn good job.
-Quinn P.
Well, I think that the "oppressors" have been aware of gatto's claims about the school system and have chosen to follow the advise of the late English liberal prime minister, Willaim Gladstone, and have reformed instead of facing a complete revolution. That is why the school system we grew up in seems different than the one Gatto described and closer to the one he wants. The school systems were aware of their short comings and have addresed them enough to appease opponents, yet keep conservative supporters happy.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a discrete body of oppressors who decide this or that. There is a diffuse body of people, connected by public media. with influence, who have an impact on how things turn out. Some may believe education's role is to turn out good employees. Why would they want to sign on to Gatto's agenda?
ReplyDeleteOn the issue of sorting: I think intelligence is grossly overvalued in US society People ought to be judged on the basis of their performance, not so much on what the educational testing says is their potential. How do we reconcile