School Makes People Stupid?

Have you ever suspected that public school is not doing anyone any real good? Well I have and after reading John Taylor Gatto's essay "Against School," I finally have a better understanding of why, they were not designed to really help people only make them easier to handle. Considering his extensive background I was able to greatly appreciate his outlook on the public school system, most significantly being that the public school system was based on three goals; to make good people, to make good citizens, and to make each person his or her personal best. Nothing about reaching for the stars, living up to your dreams, just the goal of becoming average.

What do we need school for? How were so many famous people like Edison and Washington able to accomplish so much without it? Gatto's answer was concise and well reasoned, these people while not being product of a school "system" they had actually leaarnedwhat they needed from other sources. That fact really struck me as significant in that while anyone can go through the motions of schooling and get a passing grade, it takes someone extraordinary to get something useful out of it.

As Gatto so fervently pointed out, the school system is broken. Rather than help students to mature these school are keeping them in a never ending state of adolescence, so how can we break the cycle? Students need to be taught to be leaders and adventurers rather than employees and consumers, and the best way to do that is to start at home. I know from personal experience that challenging a child to excel is the best motivator there is, and if we cannot get that motivation from school then how about from a parent, or how about yourself, escape the traps of schooling and lean something