Dumbing Us Down, The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling | John Taylor Gatto

This radical treatise on public education has been a bestseller for 10 years!!! 30 years of award-winning teaching in New York City's public schools, led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders as cogs in the industrial machine. In celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Dumbing Us Down and to keep this classic current, the publisher has renewed the cover art, added new material about John and the impact of the book, and a new Foreword.

I have ordered this book, and here are some snippets of customer reviews on Amazon, which inspired me to buy this book:

“I truly feel that John Taylor Gatto has liberated my soul by writing DUMBING US DOWN…John Taylor Gatto confirms everything I had always believed about schools: that they are simply cruel prisons where spirits are destroyed and minds are conquered. Easy for me to say, though, seeing as how I myself never did too well in school. John Taylor Gatto, on the other hand, has been named Teacher of the Year several years running by both New York City and State. Here is someone accepted by the teaching establishment, honoured by the teaching establishment. He speaks for me and thousands of others who've been tortured in these horrible institutions. ”

“This book provides cogent arguments for homeschooling.”

“In Dumbing Us Down, Mr. Gatto gives his first person perspective on the tragic waste of human potential induced by coerced 12-year confinement of the young to the artificial and anesthetizing environment of the classroom. The book is both enlightening and frightening. Personally, I felt a sense of vindication while reading the book. It put into words my negative feelings about education resulting from my unsuccessful 15 year struggle to encourage my own children to love learning. Mr. Gatto's writing has encouraged me to think that perhaps it was a GOOD thing that school was not able to press them into its mould!”