Underground History of American Education
 Underground History of American Education    | |
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| Type | book |
| Author(s) | John Taylor Gatto |
| Subjects | History of schools, Schooling, Education |
| A "superhuman effort of scholarship" from a master in the field, Gatto's book exposes both the history and the contemporary social function of mass compulsion schooling. | |
The Underground History of American Education tells the previously untold story of schooling as not an altruistic enterprise of enlightened men to benefit their fellow man, but an effort by rich industrialist and eugenicists to preserve their power and influence by "Dumbing Down" (a phrase that the author coined) their fellow man to the point at which he would willing accept a life of gloomy servitude in their factories. Gatto spent 9 years writing this book, after discovering primary sources, such as minutes of the industrialists' meetings, often painted a very different picture from that which later propaganda would have people believe.
Considering its huge size, the book is very readable. It is broken into hundreds of small sections, which mix historical record, interpretation and Gatto's personal experience to paint a compelling picture quite different from the traditional romantic image painted by the powers that be. In spite of selling over 500,000 copies based only on word of mouth recommendation (no advertising), its theme is so confronting that it has been largely ignored by the commercially-controlled media. Nevertheless, its reception has been very warm online, and it has been called a "superhuman effort of scholarship".[1].
The book was made into an audio book for the radio show Unwelcome Guests, after it was read live on air (mostly in episodes 315-372).[2]
