Thanks for reminding us of this. It is a good thing to reread from time to time. Especially given the news this morning. It was even reported here including the fact that several Democrats voted for that bill. Scary stuff.
When you combine all that regimentation with the swill on TV, and the games, you have a good recipe for social downfall.
I don't think that blaming the collapse of the United States on formal schooling is a particularly compelling argument. Many states have managed to collapse into despotism without the social safety nets that the United States has, and I personally know more than my fair share of conservative parent who homeschool their children to keep them away from the icky liberals (the Ingalls family, of little house on the etc, did quite a bit of homeschooling, but despite whatever good influences may have come from that still ended up two generations down with Rose Wilder being a libertarian.)
The United States has always had a nasty fascist streak to it, but it's always been difficult to reliably tie together the fascists and the fundamentalists. It's our misfortune to be living in an age where the fascists solved that problem. (I don't know which of our current crop of leaders were homeschooled or had formal schooling, but they're very clever no matter where they came from.)
Wow. I've never read this, but felt for a long time that school does more to turn kids into "docile, distracted, easily cowed" beings that believe people who dissent are unAmerican or terrorist enablers (for starters) than it does to foster critical thinking and creativity.
I have to have faith though that not all public schools are bad - probably because my teenager attends one. Perhaps I feel hope for public schools also because a close friend is a teacher who is incredibly bright, insightful, artistic and dedicated to "her kids".
If I had to do it again though, I'd definately "un school" my daughter.
About the only thing that would make me stop formally schooling my children would be if they wildly outran what they were being taught. They're both very social, and at the very least attending a formal school gives them a chance to interact with a group of people that we didn't choose for them.
I could teach them everything else, but I can't socialize them by myself. And, barring a complete collapse of society, they're going to be stuck dealing with other people.
How does someone both homeschool and socialize their kids?
Please, please tell me it's just superoverdosed sarcasm.
Sara, there's definitely a hyperbolic quality to the way Gatto is presenting his ideas, but these are the observations of a man who spent 26 years working (and working well, by objective measures) within the public school system. He also put a lot of time into researching the sociological foundation for the schools we have now. For a more thorough understanding of where he's coming from, try his Dumbing Us Down and/or The Underground History of American Education.
David, I'll be kind here because I used to have the same view of homeschooling and social interaction myself, although I must confess to being weary of answering the socialization question. This is a short and sweet answer. Long story short, you can build a pretty rich social network when you don't spend all your time in a brick box.
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