Gee, What Do I Say About This?

I just closed the book after reading the last lines . . . and it's left me pondering all that was said (repeatedly, I might add).

Weapons of Mass Instruction - A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto.

Has anyone else read this book - or others penned by him regarding this "dumbing down of America through compulsory schooling"?

I "get" what he's saying, that there's more than a fine line distinction between education and schooling. There's a clear difference between being taught something and learning it on one's own.

I understand that he's saying schooling in America is stifling creativity on purpose. I know, firsthand and through my own children, that school is boring.

I agree that something "funny" is going on when tax payers are digging deeper into their pockets for education and for every penny, kids in school are not getting any smarter (in the sense of passing tests, which are only important for the "machine" not the individual; and, in the sense of being able to articulate clearly in arguments, being able to comprehend what they are reading) . . . and all of this at the hands of the school system.

My kids have Literature books that are really compilations of dumb-downed chapters from stories of old (classics cut down at the knees and reworked so the 5th grader can understand it when it's an high schooler reading it). If you dumb it down, they'll never learn; they'll never be challenged; they'll be bored.

I'm not sure if writing across test papers "I would prefer not to take your test" is the best answer, but it sure would shake up a few folk. Teachers today are used to being cussed at and having their hands tied, but for that kind of rebellion (not to take the tests!!! gasp!)? If parents taught their kids to rebel this way, what would happen?

I'm not afraid of the establishment "machine". I've got a high school diploma and nothing more. Who cares? I never thought much of college, either. My thought process then was the same as it is now, concerning me: why go into that amount of debt to be bored sh*tless? And, let me be clear about this: if you have a degree, fine. I'm not saying you were bored or the degree you have worked for is pointless. As I said, this was concerning me.

So, we trust absolute strangers and the government with our kids six to seven hours a day, for what? To teach our kids what we could easily teach them, and yet, we could by doing so, preserve our Faith and Family at the same time.

This book has much to say about boredom - linking it to the "I" and "ME" of things today, the media, the intrusion of electronic stimulus. Separate the child from everything - self, family, religion, etc.

I believe this is why many choose to home school. Yet, even the author admits that kids can survive schooling if they are educated at home, by being free to educate themselves. It is also nice when parents don't make a big deal out of test scores. I never really have. I mean, I don't like my kids to spend that much time in a windowless box with strangers to fail a class . . . as sometimes happens. But, that's just it: it some times will happen. Failure is only a means to try again - unfortunately, in subjects you "have to have by law" it really stinks. Believe me, the schooling usually works the second time through a class . . . only because the kid is shamed there and at home and is spurned into trying harder.

I honestly don't know where I'm going with this post. So, I'll just say that this book was intriguing and confirms many suspicions I've held about compulsory schooling my entire life.

Stay rooted in your Faith, stay rooted in your family. It's all the education one really needs. As a Catholic, I'm in training for Eternal Things, not those that pass away - and they do pass away all too quickly for most.