Christi
08-01-2006, 08:58 AM
The Seven Lessons That Schools Currently Teach Through Invisible Curriculum
By John Taylor Gatto
1. Confusion
Virtually nothing selected by schools as basic really is basic. Virtually
none of the school sequences is logically defensible; sane people seek meaning
not disconnected facts. Schools teach the unrelating of everything.
2. Class Position
Schools teach that children are born into a class and must stay in the class
to which they have been assigned. It is an Egyptian view of life strongly
contradicting the natural genius of the United States, violating its historical
covenants.
3. Indifference
By bells and other means, I teach that nothing is worth finishing and hence
nothing worth starting -- except as a way to escape the intimidation of
authority.
4. Emotional Dependency
By a skillful use of rewards and punishments, carrots and sticks, schools
teach that free will, even in matters as basic as urination, must be
subordinated to the whim of an authority figure.
5. Intellectual Dependency
In school, teachers tell you what to think about, how long to think about
it, in what order to think about it, and what evaluation should be placed on
ideas and their management.
6. Self-Alienation
By breaking children away from families, cultures, religions, and
neighborhoods -- private sources of strength, and by the practices described in 1 thru
5 above, schools teach that you must not trust yourself, you must wait for
techers to tell you not only what to do, but whether what you have done is good
or bad. William Torrey Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1889-1906,
urged that schools deliberately teach self-alienation as the way to pedagogical
success.
7. You Are Watched
Schools teach that you can't hide, that there is no sanctuary from the
oversight of the State father. Each action produces a numerically coded report,
the accumulation of these numbers and other, anecdotal, personal histories
produces a profile of behavior which tells the child and others who he is.
__________________
PATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ATTENDING GOVERNMENT COMPULSION SCHOOLING
1. Indifference to the adult world and its announced standards.
2. The elimination of curiosity and concentration
3. Difficulty connecting present to future.
4. Difficulty connecting present and future to past.
5. A taste for cruelty; moral numbness.
6. Uneasiness with intimacy and candor; disloyalty to families and friends.
7. Obsessively materialistic.
8. Dependent, passive and timid in the face of new situations.
Article written by John Taylor Gatto
Mr. Gatto is available for keynote speeches, talks, and workshops for fee
plus travel expenses. Write to him at 235 West 76th St., NY, NY 10023 or FAX
(212) 721-6124
By John Taylor Gatto
1. Confusion
Virtually nothing selected by schools as basic really is basic. Virtually
none of the school sequences is logically defensible; sane people seek meaning
not disconnected facts. Schools teach the unrelating of everything.
2. Class Position
Schools teach that children are born into a class and must stay in the class
to which they have been assigned. It is an Egyptian view of life strongly
contradicting the natural genius of the United States, violating its historical
covenants.
3. Indifference
By bells and other means, I teach that nothing is worth finishing and hence
nothing worth starting -- except as a way to escape the intimidation of
authority.
4. Emotional Dependency
By a skillful use of rewards and punishments, carrots and sticks, schools
teach that free will, even in matters as basic as urination, must be
subordinated to the whim of an authority figure.
5. Intellectual Dependency
In school, teachers tell you what to think about, how long to think about
it, in what order to think about it, and what evaluation should be placed on
ideas and their management.
6. Self-Alienation
By breaking children away from families, cultures, religions, and
neighborhoods -- private sources of strength, and by the practices described in 1 thru
5 above, schools teach that you must not trust yourself, you must wait for
techers to tell you not only what to do, but whether what you have done is good
or bad. William Torrey Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1889-1906,
urged that schools deliberately teach self-alienation as the way to pedagogical
success.
7. You Are Watched
Schools teach that you can't hide, that there is no sanctuary from the
oversight of the State father. Each action produces a numerically coded report,
the accumulation of these numbers and other, anecdotal, personal histories
produces a profile of behavior which tells the child and others who he is.
__________________
PATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ATTENDING GOVERNMENT COMPULSION SCHOOLING
1. Indifference to the adult world and its announced standards.
2. The elimination of curiosity and concentration
3. Difficulty connecting present to future.
4. Difficulty connecting present and future to past.
5. A taste for cruelty; moral numbness.
6. Uneasiness with intimacy and candor; disloyalty to families and friends.
7. Obsessively materialistic.
8. Dependent, passive and timid in the face of new situations.
Article written by John Taylor Gatto
Mr. Gatto is available for keynote speeches, talks, and workshops for fee
plus travel expenses. Write to him at 235 West 76th St., NY, NY 10023 or FAX
(212) 721-6124