Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling / Edition 2

by John Taylor Gatto, Thomas Moore

Overview

A new look for a radical bestseller!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865714489
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2002
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

John Gatto was a schoolteacher for 30 years. He resigned in the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times upon receiving the New York State Teacher of the Year award. He has been a fierce advocate for self-directed “guerrilla” education for decades, and is also the author of Weapons of Mass Instruction and The Underground History of American Education .

Zachary Slayback is an entrepreneur, Ivy League dropout, and communicator, focusing on issues of education, innovation, and social change. He's the author of The End of School (2016) and a founding team member at Praxis, an apprenticeship program for young people looking for a real-world education.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xiii
	Introduction to the Second Edition	xvii
	Publisher's Note--from the First Edition	xxx
	About the Author	xxxiii
1.	The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher	1
2.	The Psychopathic School	20
3.	The Green Monongahela	35
4.	We Need Less School, Not More	46
5.	The Congregational Principle	73
	Afterword: Ten Years Later	95

Editorial Reviews

In this tenth-anniversary edition, Gatto updates his theories on how the U.S. educational system cranks out students the way Detroit cranks out Buicks. He contends that students are more programmed to conform to economic and social norms rather than really taught to think. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

School reform is all the rage these days; there is talk of a national cirriculum, of a return to the "basics," of computers in every classroom. But will these changes ensure a better education for our children? John Gatto, a New York City schoolteacher for 26 years, says "no." He points out that no matter how good the teachers or how progressive the texts, it is the structure of our school system that is the dominant factor in a child's education, teaching them to obey without question, give the answer that is expected, do only what is demanded and conform at all costs. Between school and television, kids have little opportunity to interact with their communities, explore ideas that interest them and persue learning experiences with different adults. Only by returning control over educational options to families and communities can we produce citizens who will be actively engaged in their world.
—FGP

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