John Taylor Gatto
Encyclopedia
John Taylor Gatto is a retired American
school teacher
with nearly 30 years experience in the classroom, and author of several books on education
. He is an activist critical of compulsory schooling, of the perceived divide between the teen years and adulthood, and of what he characterizes as the hegemonic
nature of discourse on education and the education professions.
. In his youth he attended public schools throughout the Pittsburgh Metro Area
including Swissvale
, Monongahela
, and Uniontown
as well as a Catholic boarding school in Latrobe
. He did undergraduate work at Cornell
, the University of Pittsburgh
, and Columbia
, then served in the U.S. Army medical corps at Fort Knox
, Kentucky
, and Fort Sam Houston
, Texas
. Following army service he did graduate work at the City University of New York
, Hunter College
, Yeshiva University
, the University of California
, and Cornell.
He worked as a writer and held several odd jobs before borrowing his roommate's license to investigate teaching. Gatto also ran for the New York
State Senate
, 29th District in 1985 and 1988 as a member of the Conservative Party of New York
against incumbent David Paterson
. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. In 1991, he wrote a letter announcing his retirement, titled I Quit, I Think, to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, saying that he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living." He then began a public speaking and writing career, and has received several awards from libertarian
organizations, including the Alexis de Tocqueville
Award for Excellence in Advancement of Educational Freedom in 1997.
He promotes homeschooling
, and specifically unschooling
. Wade A. Carpenter, associate professor of education at
Berry College, has called his books "scathing" and "one-sided and hyperbolic, [but] not inaccurate" and describes himself as in agreement with Gatto.
Gatto is currently working on a 3-part documentary about compulsory schooling, titled The Fourth Purpose. He says he was inspired by Ken Burns
's Civil War
.
Other critics of public education:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
school teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
with nearly 30 years experience in the classroom, and author of several books on education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. He is an activist critical of compulsory schooling, of the perceived divide between the teen years and adulthood, and of what he characterizes as the hegemonic
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
nature of discourse on education and the education professions.
Biography
Gatto was born in the Pittsburgh-area steel town of Monongahela, PennsylvaniaMonongahela, Pennsylvania
Monongahela, colloquially called "Mon City," is a Third Class City in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area, located approximately south of the city proper. The population was 4,761 at the 2000 census...
. In his youth he attended public schools throughout the Pittsburgh Metro Area
Pittsburgh Metro Area
The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is renowned for its industries including steel, glass and oil; moreover, its economy also thrives on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, financial services and more recently film...
including Swissvale
Swissvale, Pennsylvania
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by abolitionist and early feminist Jane Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George Westinghouse. The population was 8,983 at...
, Monongahela
Monongahela, Pennsylvania
Monongahela, colloquially called "Mon City," is a Third Class City in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area, located approximately south of the city proper. The population was 4,761 at the 2000 census...
, and Uniontown
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...
as well as a Catholic boarding school in Latrobe
Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States, approximately southeast of Pittsburgh.The city population was 7,634 as of the 2000 census . It is located near the Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Ridge. Latrobe was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and as a city in 1999...
. He did undergraduate work at Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, and Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, then served in the U.S. Army medical corps at Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and Fort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Following army service he did graduate work at the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
, Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
, the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, and Cornell.
He worked as a writer and held several odd jobs before borrowing his roommate's license to investigate teaching. Gatto also ran for the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State Senate
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
, 29th District in 1985 and 1988 as a member of the Conservative Party of New York
Conservative Party of New York
The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party active in the state of New York. It is not part of any nationwide party, nor is it affiliated with the American Conservative Party, which it predates by over 40 years....
against incumbent David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...
. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. In 1991, he wrote a letter announcing his retirement, titled I Quit, I Think, to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, saying that he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living." He then began a public speaking and writing career, and has received several awards from libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
organizations, including the Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
Award for Excellence in Advancement of Educational Freedom in 1997.
He promotes homeschooling
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
, and specifically unschooling
Unschooling
Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum....
. Wade A. Carpenter, associate professor of education at
Berry College, has called his books "scathing" and "one-sided and hyperbolic, [but] not inaccurate" and describes himself as in agreement with Gatto.
Gatto is currently working on a 3-part documentary about compulsory schooling, titled The Fourth Purpose. He says he was inspired by Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
's Civil War
The Civil War (documentary)
The Civil War is a documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most-watched...
.
Main thesis
What does the school do with the children? Gatto takes this in "Dumbing Us Down," the following propositions:- It makes the children confused. It presents an incoherent ensemble of information that the child needs to memorize to stay in school. Apart from the tests and trials that programming is similar to the television, it fills almost all the "free" time of children. One sees and hears something, only to forget it again.
- It teaches them to accept their class affiliation.
- It makes them indifferent.
- It makes them emotionally dependent.
- It makes them intellectually dependent.
- It teaches them a kind of self-confidence that requires constant confirmation by experts (provisional self-esteem).
- It makes it clear to them that they cannot hide, because they are always supervised.
See also
- Critical pedagogyCritical pedagogyCritical pedagogy is a philosophy of education described by Henry Giroux as an "educational movement, guided by passion and principle, to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive...
- Deschooling SocietyDeschooling SocietyDeschooling Society is a critical discourse on education as practised in modern economies. It is a book that brought Ivan Illich to public attention. Full of detail on programs and concerns, the book gives examples of the ineffectual nature of institutionalized education...
(book by Ivan Illich) - Hidden curriculumHidden curriculumHidden curriculum, in general terms, is “some of the outcomes or by-products of schools or of non-school settings, particularly those states which are learned but not openly intended.” However, a variety of definitions have been developed based on the broad range of perspectives of those who study...
- How Children FailHow Children FailHow Children Fail is a non-fiction book by John Holt, published in 1964 and republished in 1982 in a revised edition. It has sold over a million copies...
(book by John Holt) - Total institutionTotal institutionA total institution is place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life...
Other critics of public education:
- Zachariah MontgomeryZachariah MontgomeryZachariah "Zach" Montgomery was a publisher, lawyer, politician, and author, particularly known for his skills as an orator....
- Richard Grant WhiteRichard Grant WhiteRichard Grant White was one of the foremost literary and musical critics of his day. He was also a prominent Shakespearen scholar, journalist, social critic, and lawyer who was born and died in New York USA.-Biography:...
External links
- Official Website
- Kinza Academy, Homeschooling with the Classics. Gatto is on the Advisory Board.
- Collection of essays Gatto is a regular columnist for The Link Homeschool Newspaper
- Transcript of radio interview with Jerry Brown
- Gatto's November 2007 visit to Netherlands: audio, video and articles
- Book reviews by Layla AR
- The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto (complete download)
Writings and lectures
- "Against School" – originally published in Harper's MagazineHarper's MagazineHarper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, September 2003 - "The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher" – originally published in Whole Earth ReviewWhole Earth ReviewWhole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the Whole Earth Software Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly. All of these periodicals are descendants of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog...
, Fall 1991 - A set of quotes from Gatto and links to original essays
- "Institutional Schooling Must Be Destroyed"
- "The Tyranny Of Compulsory Schooling"
- "The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?", article published by Diablo Valley School
- "Why Schools Don't Educate - Teacher of the Year acceptance speech"
- "A Short Angry History of American Forced Schooling"
- Book reviews by Layla AR
- Everything We Think About Schooling Is Wrong! – Interview with Gatto (PDF file download)
- "Against School" – originally published in Harper's MagazineHarper's MagazineHarper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, September 2003 - A set of quotes from Gatto and links to original essays
Multimedia
- 4th Purpose Promo – Trailer for The Fourth Purpose
- John Gatto Keynote Talks - Video: Five complete keynote talks by John Gatto (2004–2010)
- Altruists.org – download audio files of some of Gatto's talks
- Video of Gatto interview, broken into topic sections
- Speech at a home schooling Conference by Radio for Peace (MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
) - The Lew Rockwell Show, Aug 25, 2010
- Collection of Gatto Files, mainly MP3s