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Against School by John Taylor Gatto

            I remember back when I believed that school was meant to be for kids that had to be punished and sent some place other than home. Up to this day, my view on school remains about the same due to the fact that nobody wants to go to school everyday for the rest of their lives for the one reason that we are treated as bad as prisoners. In John Taylor Gatto's article, "Against School," he explains how society is turning students into mindless robots who are basically taught nothing in schools. Instead of being taught skills that will help them in the long run to achieve their full potential, they are just seated and handed work to do or maybe known as "cell block style." Gatto adds that there are "six covert functions" that are basically meant to destroys the lives of kids. Up to this day, society is running schools as if it was a prison and we are the prisoners. He points out that there is good news as well. Modern schooling can easily be avoided by having you teach them. At this point, I agree and can compare with Gatto's point of view on how bad society is treating the rest of the student population. .
             Why do we need school? To excel in things that we love doing to get greater things in life? That's what we are striving for until society gets in the way. Kids in schools are dying of boredom due to the fact that even the teachers have given up in teaching their students. They much rather do hands on learning than doing bookwork about things that they already know how to do. They don't want to be seated and handed work to do so that they can go home and forget about it. The teachers are as bored as the students as well, "bored of reaching students who are rude and interested only in grades." School feels like a prison to them because they are forced to due things they don't want to do but have to in order to get a passing grade. I can compare this to my own experiences because I've always loved hands on work.


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