John Taylor Gatto
  John Taylor Gatto       (whistleblower, teacher, author) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1935-12-15 Monongahela, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University, University of Pittsburgh, Yeshiva, Hunter College, Reed College, University of California |
| Spouse | Janet Gatto |
| Exposed | Mass compulsion schooling |
Probably the most famous teacher in USA. He is now an unschooling activist, having turned up irrefutable proof that the forced schooling system was never intended to benefit children, but quite the reverse. | |
John Taylor Gatto began teaching illegally, having borrowed his roommate's teaching license, which at that stage didn't have a photo attached. Without the indoctrination of "teacher training", he saw what happened in schools with very fresh eyes. He want on to become perhaps the most celebrated teacher in USA, and was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1990, 1991.[1]
Contents
Resignation
Gatto resigned in 1991, he wrote a letter announcing his retirement, to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, saying that he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living."
Exposures
Gatto cites Alexander Inglis' 1911's "Principles of Secondary Education" as giving an important key to the real purposes of modern schooling. Dr. Inglis lists six purposes:
- Adjustive - To give kids fixed habits of obedience to authority.
- Diagnostic - To log kids' behaviour to establish their proper role in society.
- Sorting - To teach kids just what they need to carry out those duties, and nothing more.
- Conformity - To make kids as alike as possible, for the convenience of their later managers.
- Hygienic - For "the health of the race", to mark 'unfit' kids so clearly that they are discouraged from breeding.
- Propaedudic - [A very small minority of kids only] To teach them what they need to know to perpetuate the system of management.[2]
Publications
Propelled by "a tremendous anger"[3], he wrote a number of books exposing the real purpose of schools, including his magum opus, The Underground History of American Education.
Quotes by John Taylor Gatto
| Page | Quote | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Free market" | “I don't think a free market has existed in the United States since I was born in 1935. The market is rigged by enormous subsidies that go to favoured businesses. It's rigged in a half dozen other ways but that way alone would tip the scales. We have so many businesses that actually are bankrupt. They can't compete but they seem to be able to compete because your tax money and mine get poured into them in quiet, unnoticable ways.” | Unwelcome Guests | |
| Political party | “It doesn't make the slightest difference whether Republicans have control of congress or democrats. They're the same people. Look at their campaign contributions.” | Unwelcome Guests | |
| School | “Tests aren't tests at all, they're drills. They're part of a psychological training package which controls the behaviour of the unsuspecting. The ultimate goal is to establish and perpetuate a hierarchy. You have to be made to feel that you failed.” | 2007 |
Rating
30 November 2018 Robin A good introduction to a formidable intellect whom I will miss.John Taylor Gatto, a highly decorated US teacher, did more than anyone else in US to unmask the fraud of compulsory schooling.
