I've wanted to read this forever but was always put off by the price tag--imagine my surprise when I found it at a library sale. Anyway, it was terribly disappointing. I didn't trust his credentials to address the topic and the text seemed to meander.
BestBooks is a record of all of the books that I have read since November 2004, with brief descriptions and reviews.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
I've wanted to read this forever but was always put off by the price tag--imagine my surprise when I found it at a library sale. Anyway, it was terribly disappointing. I didn't trust his credentials to address the topic and the text seemed to meander.
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I must dsagree -- this is a highly-worthy book,
fully deserving of a patient approach,
the same "love of learning" approach
needed for Melville's "Moby Dick"
-- namely, an unhurried eagerness
to share the personal stories and insights
of a life-long "hands-on" expert,
as he seeks to shine bright light
on a strange aspect of our world.
Gatto's thin book, "Dumbing Us Down",
showed me why I hated school as a kid,
even as I loved books, libraries, and learning.
"Underground History of American Education"
is Gatto's impressive work to share his research to answer a vital question:
How and why did it happen
-- that our freedom-loving democratic nation
begin to rely on freedom-less schools,
so devoid of any real democratic ideals?
Read it, if you care
about the daily plight
of our kids in our schools,
and how our industrial model of school
became seen and accepted as "normal"!
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