Against School

Out of the three articles I’ve read so far in this class, Gatto’s Against School has stood out to me the most. I related to a lot of the points he made in his article for example, “They said the work was stupid, it made no sense, that they already knew it.” I recall me saying almost those exact words to my parents when they asked how my day at school had been during my freshman and sophomore years in high school. I felt like I had been taught the same things over and over ever since middle school except there was a difference. In my middle school, most of the teachers were enthusiastic and seemed to be so excited to teach their students, while in my high school the teachers gave me the impression that they were only there because it was their job and they didn’t truly want to be there. They were programmed to teach what was required and to assign the projects that went along with it. Though there were teachers that didn’t give me that impression, I had a handful that did which lead a lot of students to become bored and uninterested, including myself.

After reading the quote “If I was bored it was my fault and no one else’s” I came to realize that in certain situations it was true for me, but there were times where no matter how hard I tried to be interested in the subject, it was just impossible whether it was because of the way the instructor taught, or the material itself. I feel that avoiding being bored in college is a lot easier that in high school. You can choose your classes based on what you’re interested in, while in high school you were forced to take certain classes that you had no interest in. Though it may seem difficult to not be bored in a class, I feel that if you make the most of it and participate and listen to what the instructor has to say instead of completely tuning them out, you’ll get more out of it.

-Katie C.