Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
thesunmagazine.org
Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
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Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#2Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#3Gatto is a true prophet. See his writings at
https://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
(though his site is having some problems, it looks like).
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#4> But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic — because the community life that protects the dependent and the weak is dead.
Too many people has apocalyptic views of the world. And to push for individualistic behavior when you think that your society is disintegrating seems to just accelerate any problems that may exists. 30 years later the collapse still has not happened.
> The children I teach have almost no curiosity, and what little they do have is transitory;
I have yet to see a child that is not curious, you need some war-level trauma to stop children curiosity. I would guess that the author real complain is that children are not interested in the same things that him, and that is why he is pissed off.
> they’re just nice kids from central Harlem, bright and alert, but so badly schooled when they came to me that most of them couldn’t add or subtract with any fluency.
I am all for better schools and I can not even imagine how bad schooling has been in mainly black neighborhoods but to "just let the kids learn by themselves" seems as absurd as the idea of "tabula rasa". Kids need to learn to learn but they also need to be taught.
> The Swedes realized this in 1976, when they effectively abandoned state adoption of unwanted children and instead spent national time and treasure on reinforcing the original family so that children born to Swedes were wanted.
This one is interesting as Abortion laws are changing in the USA.
> Family is the main engine of education.
This makes sense. I just think that schools also have their place no only for education but as socializing places.
> to promote during school time confluences of parent and child that will strengthen family bonds.
Sweden has a generous parental leave. That is a good way of achieving this goal.
In general the article expresses a too extreme view of things. But it has some good points even if I do not agree with all the conclusions.
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#5> But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic — because the community life that protects the dependent and the weak is dead. Too many people has apocalyptic views of the world. And to push for individualistic behavior when you think that your society is disintegrating seems to just accelerate any problems that may exists. 30 yea…
> Kids need to learn to learn but they also need to be taught.
I have no children (so grain of salt), but what I think kids need is more what you'd call "guidance".
Not necessarily teaching them, but more showing them how to learn, and how to discover interests and pursue them, which may lead them down a life path.
I had it easy. My dad just had to leave some computers lying around. None of my other siblings went into tech. 2/3 of my siblings did a bunch of different things before settling into their current careers.
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#6> But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic — because the community life that protects the dependent and the weak is dead. Too many people has apocalyptic views of the world. And to push for individualistic behavior when you think that your society is disintegrating seems to just accelerate any problems that may exists. 30 yea…
> The children I teach have almost no curiosity, and what little they do have is transitory;
If that curiosity is all satisfied at home on youtube/television then kids really won't much real curiosity for school. Kids are curious but not about everything all the time
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#7> But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic — because the community life that protects the dependent and the weak is dead. Too many people has apocalyptic views of the world. And to push for individualistic behavior when you think that your society is disintegrating seems to just accelerate any problems that may exists. 30 yea…
> you need some war-level trauma to stop children curiosity
See inner city, ghetto living experiences
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#8Wow, it's wild to see this here. About 20 years ago, a grief counselor I was seeing after the death of my mom shared this article with me after I told him about how school felt pointless and cruel. I stopped seeing that grief counselor not long after (I think my family couldn't afford to see him) but the impact of this essay was deep. It was the first piece of writing I had read by 14 that critiqued something as mundane and entrenched as the public school system in the United States, and in terms that spoke to my experiences.
It inspired me to start honing my writing skills with intentionality, and sharpened my interest in activism.
I have mixed feelings reading this article now -- it's not quite as well written as I remember, although I still agree with many of the critiques.
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#9> But our society is disintegrating, and in such a society, the only successful people are self-reliant, confident, and individualistic — because the community life that protects the dependent and the weak is dead. Too many people has apocalyptic views of the world. And to push for individualistic behavior when you think that your society is disintegrating seems to just accelerate any problems that may exists. 30 yea…
> The children I teach have almost no curiosity, and what little they do have is transitory; If that curiosity is all satisfied at home on youtube/television then kids really won't much real curiosity for school. Kids are curious but not about everything all the time
There is nothing more sure to kill your love of anything than to have it be taught at school.
Like come on, we were stuck in the boredom cube for 6ish hours a day, the alternative is nothing and most of us still didn't pay attention.
Re: Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The children I teach have almost no curiosity, and what little they do have is transitory; If that curiosity is all satisfied at home on youtube/television then kids really won't much real curiosity for school. Kids are curious but not about everything all the time
There is nothing more sure to kill your love of anything than to have it be taught at school. Like come on, we were stuck in the boredom cube for 6ish hours a day, the alternative is nothing and most of us still didn't pay attention.
> than to have it be taught at school.
than to have it be taught IN A BORING WAY WITHOUT CONTEXT
Learning my multiplication tables was fun when it was turned into a race with my friends. Memorizing the state capitals and abbreviations was fun when it was turned into a game.
You can turn most anything into a fun way of learning it with just a modicum of effort. One problem is too many teachers get beat down to only teach what they are told to teach through some ready-made commercial curriculum. We have a huge number of teachers who are poorly paid. Too many run-ins with difficulty and admins who want things done their way, and that teacher's lifelong career gets sapped of any joy and they default to just teaching as they're told to teach.
If education was better funded in order to pay teachers very competitive wages, you'd attract more can-do teachers to the field instead of bright eyed young college graduates who end up leaving the profession within the first 5 years because of how stifling the bureaucracy of it all is. Pay the job well to attract and retain the best and brightest and you'll get amazing results through creativity and mastery of the art of education.
We don't do that, so you often get what you pay for.