I really enjoyed Gatto’s AGAINST SCHOOL; I had never known people had such strong feelings toward the school system. While reading this piece I kept thinking to myself “wow I’m a product of everything that he disagrees with “, which started to get me thinking about what if’s? What if I grew up in a time when it was common to not attend a high school? What if school wasn’t five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years? Would I be educated? Up until about three days ago when I read this article I always looked at school as the key to education, to be educated meant to attend school and the more school the more education. I strongly disagree with my initial thoughts, now I see education as a hobby in a way, I mean you could go to school and gain basic knowledge but being educated means digging deeper it’s not just about passing tests it’s about being motivated enough to take that extra step and gain knowledge through curiosity, risk, and even failure. At one point he says something along the lines of public school adding two to six years to your childhood and for me that’s hard to grasp. I couldn’t even begin to picture myself anywhere near mature at the age of fifteen or consider myself an educated person at that matter.

Devon D.