This article is probably the most interesting piece I've ever read on education. I find myself challenged everytime I read it. I question how much overlap I have with the historical model, the breadth and meaning of the content I teach, the level of curiosity and thinking that really goes on in the room. It's from Harper's Magazine and came out when I first started teaching. Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt, comes to mind as a parallel.
Against School
Thanks for passing this along again Hans - it's a thought provoking read.
ReplyDeleteUgh! I think I need to read his book, but this territory is overdone! And, I think he misses a big issue. Yes, my grandmother and mother always said, "only the boring are bored." In fact, haven't recent generations been cut off from their grandparents and parental influences? Haven't family dynamics changed?Isn't the real solution connected to parental values? Or economic changes in real wages? Aren't more modern day families forced to work more hours?
ReplyDeleteAs someone with tons of lifelong public school teacher relatives, I have to defend them. They struggle with being thought juvenile, lazy, boring, money hungry, unambitious, and for some reason seem to be addicted to every sappy teacher story that chain emails can provide.
Why is much of his textual support based on turn of the century thought? I think he extrapolates his timeline in an odd way. Schools, both in terms of philosophy and physical construction, shifted in the 50s and 60s.
My grandparents thought public school a great opportunity and a great gift. Even the radical idea of vocational education was viewed as a positive. Saroyan's "The Human Comedy" was a reflection of school philosophy. My immigrant grandparents thought it made America far more amazing a place.
Why are teachers always expected to
Oops, dorm interruption, time to teach bathroom etiquette to Mason goofballs...
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants to break out of this stream of thought, I highly recommend a visit to one of Leucretia Shaw's classes -- exciting, funny, demanding, rewarding, fast, do-able.... it was an Open House treat for me.
ReplyDeleteAn equally thought-provoking counter-argument: http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/08/mission-high-false-low-performing-school
ReplyDeleteI think Gatto is critiquing the 'school system' more so than the teachers working within the system, who are in many ways trapped by the structure created in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and he does make some valid points regarding the history of the educational structure - certainly in the public system. For instance, Woodrow Wilson actually said that we should try and create two different classes of education for our citizens which was in keeping with his increased segregation of the Federal Government and general racism and adherence to the pseudo-science of Eugenics at the time.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Gatto's cherry-picking of various super-successful men (all men cited I believe) from the past who achieved greatness without schooling - this is akin to arguments today against going to college that cite the 'outliers' like Gate/Jobs/Zuckerberg. Unique, and specific cases all.
Blair does not have many of the issues he cites, but his call for more 'thinking' by students is relevant, and something we should continue to focus on each day in our classrooms and in the overall curriculum. Also, perhaps we should get rid of the bells - they were after originally used in factories to communicate to immigrants who could not speak English.