A Little Paranoid

Dumbing Us Down was on my book list. Happily, the library had a copy. So I read it. And it's interesting, if a little paranoid. Given the state of our government, I'm not sure that a little paranoia might not be well-justified, but it's still something that should be taken in small doses, lest it make you crazy, despondent, or both. That being said, this book made me think.

Mr. Gatto starts out with a list of 7 things that he teaches. These things don't appear in the curriculum, but he claims they are at the core of what he's teaching.

1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependency
5. Intellectual Dependency
6. Provisional Self-esteem
7. One Can't Hide

At first glance, I thought he was WAAAY out there. Then, as I mulled it over, experiences from my own time in school came to mind. When I spoke about it to my husband, he also found these lessons in his own schooling. Received in another state, 4 years ahead of me. It was unnerving.

He had interesting statistics on literacy and compulsory schooling:

Senator Ted Kennedy's office released a paper not too long ago claiming that prior to compulsory education the state literacy rate was ninety-eight percent, and after it the figure never exceeded ninety-one percent, where it stands in 1990.

His thoughts on reform were blunt and to the point:

It is time that we squarely face the fact that institutional schoolteacing is destructive to children. Nobody survives the seven lesson curriculum completely unscathed, not even instructors. The method is deeply and profoundly anti-educational. No tinkering will fix it. (page 19)

He calls for less school, not more, for a retreat of government out of the classroom, and a a return of the classroom to the family and community. It's a thought provoking read at the very least, and if he's right on even half of his points, then it's also an urgent call for action. Clearly, in the homeschool movement, there are many people who think he's right on target. In the larger population, though, I'd say the jury's still out.