A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling

Amid the clutter of noise that surrounds American educational issues these days, John Taylor Gatto's voice comes through with clarity and depth in this set of collected essays. Gatto is that rarest of birds - an original thinker with a knack for framing an argument in a way that is powerfully engaging. His words really do make you think about why schools are the way they are. While the title of this book may suggest that in its pages will be found a description of some sort of set of teaching ideals, in fact this is a much bigger - and far more radical - piece of work. The whole idea of compulsory education, Gatto argues, is terribly flawed right down to its roots. Schooling - not education, but schooling - has become an "insane" experiment in social engineering that we have inherited by way of John Dewey, Andrew Carnegie, and the Prussians. It seems a little far-fetched at first blush, but Gatto's almost thirty years of teaching in New York City Public Schools, as well as his fresh and rounded view of history bring an authenticity to his analysis that is hard to dismiss. Occasionally Gatto does stretch things a bit in order to make a point. For example, when he argues that scientists are not "made" in schools, and that most science teaching in schools adds essentially not a heck of a lot to kids' abilities to actually do experiments - certainly an important and reasonable enough claim - he cites Robert Scott Root-Bernstein's book "Discovering" to back his assertion that "not one major scientific discovery of this century, including exotica like superconductivity, came from an academic laboratory, or a corporate or government laboratory, or a school laboratory." Well, that's a lot of hooey. Penicillin, insulin, and the atomic bomb all came out of labs like that. Nevertheless, he is on target about scientists not having learned their crafts during their schooling, and about the irrelevance of too much science teaching. Gatto's bleak portrayal of the day-to-day goings-on inside of public school buildings rings with truth, but it is his thinking on why the situation has evolved to crisis proportions that gives this book a strong and resonant voice.

This book is one of the most fascinating reads I have had in a long time. This is, at least in the contemporary, new thinking. Gatto must have cared deeply about his students (their minds and hearts) to have thought so deeply (and then to follow up with research) about how the school system affects their natural curiosity and industry.I particularly found interesting the comparison of real work with paper work. The idea that important (i.e., real) projects should be pursued in contrast to the model/abstract (i.e., illusion) projects. The concept here is that people (especially young, unadulterated children) thrive educationally on touching the real, important things in their lives. The children grow in character, ability and knowledge where they actually accomplish something of value in the real world. Compulsory school cannot accommodate an individual's curiosity and need to accomplish that which is real life. School can only teach in a classroom full of desks and books, where one is forced to learn what the school has deemed good (regardless of the individual's curiosity, aptitude and learning style). Thus, school can really only teach with paper and concepts. School, ironically, is not the real world and yet, it's the place most of us have chosen as a great starting place for our children. The irony is loudly ringing in my ears.

John Taylor Gatto is a man that every public school superintendent would fear (and hopefully listen to attentively). He has 30 years experience teaching in the best and worst schools in New York City. Gatto succinctly describes the history of public education in the United States and the motives of the "powers-that-were" to create public education (hint: they weren't out of social benevolence!). I read Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down" first, before I read this, and I was so enrapt with his writings and message that I ran out and bought this book and read it two days after finishing Dumbing Us Down. I keep these books close by and have recommended them to a number of teachers I work with (yes, I am a 10 year public school teacher). Here are a few of the jewels I picked up from Gatto and I think you might be interested in reading and knowing: First, he points out that from every town/ city's educational budget, only about 25 % of it actually goes toward purchasing student supplies. The other 75 % is mostly administrative costs. He claims our education system "schools" students, it shows them how to pass tests that we prepare them for, but it doesn't educate them. OK, if you're a college graduate what talents and skills do you have? Can you grow food? build your own house? This is what Gatto means is the difference between "schooling" students and "educating" them. (He mentions the conference where he was speaking and a 25 y/o man said he had 2 college degrees and was very well "educated" by American standards but didn't know how to fix a broken fan belt on his car.i.e.--too much useless information in curriculums, but no practical knowledge or trade work taught to kids that would be useful to them in the world they will graduate into.) Gatto points out the number of millionaires who graduated from college is remarakably low, compared to dropouts and those who don't attend college--if we want to consider one's earnings as a measure of the educated person. Are you aware that as a nation, our literacy rate has dropped since the advent of public education? Gatto describes the old ways of schooling where kids went out into the community and apprenticed in a craft or field that they liked and that they felt a great interest or a passion for and also performed community service for others; where they were connected and well-adjusted to working with older people and the very young. This gave them a sense of appreciation and respect for working with those from the different age groups in society and made them connected and feel that they were really participating memebers of society. This gave them responsibility, duty, as well as well-earned pride and the "self-esteem" that young people need today. Gatto has a well-researched repertoire of arguments against the state-run public education system (the big business of school or also the "school ring" as he calls it) that are logical, well-researched and easy to follow. He's not an angry, "blame it on them" writer,

For those who cling to the idea that our public school system can be "fixed," this book may be a path to intellectual enlightenment. What Mr. Gatto so effectively describes is the kind of paradigm building our public school industry excels at and calls an education. It has become so successful at achieving its goal of "preparing our young people for the adult world" that they become the unwitting (read: unthinking) parents for succeeding generations of public school mentality consumers.The book wasn't written to condemn or indict teachers and administrators who work within the system; it was written to expose the problems which perpetuate an institution that, by any meaningful measure, fails so miserably to prepare children for the wonderful challenges and opportunities to be found in life after adolescence.One theme that Gatto convincingly explores is the damage inflicted on the human psyche through the many years of compulsory schooling. For the reader to reflect on how this instills a conditioning of the mind, not to think but to simply learn and accept what it's told, is a solid beginning for understanding how the vast majority of people in this country continue to so willingly accept the idea of public schools as a good thing.The simple fact is we can do much, much better in providing education for our children. In helping us all to better understand why public schooling "is broke," Gatto's contribution is a gem. (The five stars I gave it are not enough.) It's a wonderful read for everyone, whether pro or con on public schools, for the simple reason that it makes you think.

To start with, let me just say this is a great book, one I heartily recommend to teachers and students (and, deep down, I think we're all both teachers and students, or should be). If you care about the future of the world, and you want real answers (often in the form of questions) about the institution of education in America and what it's doing for us (or to us?), then you should read this book. As a college English instructor, I share some of Gatto's writing with my freshmen. Their reactions differ, but the exciting thing for me is that they all do react (If a student says "uh, it was ok," then I know he or she didn't read the assignment). My students, who usually act like they've been trained to agree on everything, never agree on Gatto. They don't know how to react because they've never been allowed, let alone encouraged, to question any aspect of the twelve years of compulsory schooling they've just completed. The debate that occurs each time one of my classes discusses Gatto is a debate we need to have, right now, on the local, state, and national level. Gatto's words may catch us off guard, but they give us an opportunity to ask questions and approach issues we would otherwise avoid or dismiss. After reading Gatto, debates over standardized testing, metal detectors, and the so-called national curriculum seem like shallow attempts to evade discussion over the real crisis inherent to what Gatto calls "government-monopoly compulsory education." Socrates said to question everything, and this book does exactly that.