Assignment #2

You Gatto Tough it Out

I found the article Against School, by John Taylor Gatto, to be a very interesting yet opinionated read. It is obviously apparent that John Gatto is very against the public school system and if he could have it his way, homeschooling would be just as acceptable. He made some very valid points, but there are many large advantages of going through the public school system that John Gatto seemed to have forgotten about or chose to leave unaddressed. John Gatto seemed to have a very negative outlook on the schooling system which may have blinded him from some of the important factors of the public system today. I will now bring a few of them to your attention to hopefully at least bring light upon some of the advantages it gives you.

Gatto began by giving examples of a few historical figures who have come from the nontraditional education system and still contributed greatly to our society. He named George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln to state a few. I do agree with him that these men were very intelligent for their time and have had a large contribution to molding the future of not only America, but the world as well. What I do not agree with is that it supports his argument whatsoever. Of course there will always be the geniuses of their time who stand above the rest and lead the path for others to follow, but what about all of those who don’t. You can always name people that have succeeded but would that help if a fact came out that only 1% of nontraditional scholars actually succeeded? I made that number up but it goes to show that it is very likely that the success rate of public schooled graduates will tend to be higher than the latter. The reason their schooling system was not as grueling was because they did not have as much information to teach. We have come a long way from then and we can now learn what they discovered for us in a week’s worth of time in high school. If it weren’t for our school system, how would we have any of the advancements we have in science and medicine that we have today, especially at the rate that it is progressing. With all of the information and technology available today it would be illogical to claim that someone with great life experiences would be able to stumble upon a treatment many of the viruses and bacteria out in the world. In less than a year since the outbreak scare we have found a vaccination for H1N1, which was first produced by a Swiss company named Novartis AG . I would be willing to bet my life’s salary that these scientists came from a very demanding schooling system.

I would now like to move on to Gatto’s use of Inglis’ six basic functions to discredit the public school system. The fourth function is quoted as follows:

“The differentiating function. Once their social role has been ‘diagnosed,’ children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best.”

This to me is a harsh spin of the truth, and I hope that as people read this paper to themselves they step back and challenge the writings in their head to make their own decision instead of conforming to the harsh opinions of Inglis and John Gatto. I feel that this statement is entirely un-true. When I was in school I always had the option of which class I could take, according to my skill level. Even though I qualified for all of the upper classes, I always had a choice from the beginning to perform at my highest potential. You may think, wait a minute, that’s what Gatto said because you were put in certain classes to set limitations on your potential. But really it was you who put yourself in classes and those who could not handle the higher classes went to the lower ones because they were too hard for them. They were failing the tests and obviously not ready for that next level. Also, if you were not ready for the tougher classes at a young age, it never set your path for the rest of your school career. You could always try again the next year, and if you really wanted to push your potential you would study over the summer to prepare yourself for the leap the next year, so it was never pre-decided by someone else, but it was each individual who ultimately controlled their fate.

Now for one of the main advantages to going to a public school that has gone entirely unaddressed. Now that I am nearing the end of college and beginning to flirt with the adult world, I have realized that there is one thing that can either take you very far or shadow your intelligence and skills, no matter how educated you are. That one trait is social skills. No offense to any student that have been homeschooled because this does not apply to all homeschooled students, it is just an observation I have made from all of my encounters with homeschooled students. Even though some claim that high school is very harsh on some students because of the social networking that takes place, it truly prepares us for the real world. High School may be harsh for some, but the real world isn’t full of candy and dandelions. High school is a major growing stage for all people. It teaches each individual to handle bullies, criticism, and negative motivation. Although this can be tough, it truly teaches us how to handle the sour aspects of life and how to grow from them. It teaches you that sometimes you have to take action to better your environment and stick up for yourself otherwise people will walk all over you. It also promotes a healthy social lifestyle, which is one of the top qualifications in the real world. Now that I am nearing the end of schooling and beginning to prepare myself for the leap I have been hearing all sorts of stories and advice from some of my peers who are a little bit older than me. What I am learning is that your social skills may be rated higher than education in some examples. They say if two people are applying for a job and one is a little less educated in the other, but has social skills where the other one can hardly interact with the interviewer, the social one will be hired nine out of ten times. Social skills promote cohesiveness and creativity in the working world as well as higher team moral. Without being but through the gauntlet of the social schooling system, one will have a difficult time adapting when they are in their twenties.

I do not want you to think I don’t agree at all with some of Gatto’s claims of conforming students, but more to show the more optimistic outlook on our system today. I feel it’s safe to say that without the advancements we have had as a byproduct of our education system we would be greatly set back into a much more primitive lifestyle. I feel that there are always negatives to every situation or experience but until someone comes up with an option where the marginal benefit is greater than the current situation we should take advantage of the fortunes that we have available to us today. There are many countries without a solid school system and there is no comparison to the lifestyle we are blessed with because of it. There are many children who would give everything they posses to be given the chance to go through our school system today, so everyone should take a step back and be grateful for a system that has spoiled us.