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On page 22 of John Taylor Gatto’s a book, entitled “Dumbing Us Down; The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling“, there is a bit of shocking information, and I quote: “Our form of public schooling is an invention of the State of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted — sometimes with guns — by an estimated eighty percent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 188o’s, when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard.”
Does anyone besides me wonder why we’re taught about the Boston Tea Party, but not the Barnstable Resistance?? Boston Tea Party vs. King George. Barnstable on Cape Cod vs. State of Massachusetts. Hm. There there’s the constitution, recognizing certain G-d given Rights.
He discusses these same events in “The Underground History of American Education“.
If you want to get involved in getting the government uninvolved in our educational system the following link is a good place to start.
John Taylor Gatto was a teacher in the New York public schools for over 30 years, and has received the New York City Teacher of the Year award and the New York State of the Year award several times over. He makes a distinction between schooling and education. You may be interested in reading the Wikipedia article on him here. He has his own site here.
The assertions in Mr. Gatto’s works are also reflected in the book “Government Nannies; The Cradle-to-GraveAgenda of Goals 2000 & Outcome Based Education” by Cathy Duffy. In the forward of this book, which should cause every red-blooded American to make sure they’re capable of defending themselves against an over-controlling and over-zealous government, Mr. Gatto gives some details on the origins of our form of “education” which isn’t about education as much as it’s about producing a homogenous, easily manipulated and controlled society.
In a related incident, which recently happened in Maryland, another bastion of constitutionally recognized freedom, parents were threatened with $50 per day fines and/or jail time if they didn’t show up at the local courthouse with proof of vaccinations. Seems we’re marching steadily down the path the Powers That Be have decided best for us, with little meaningful, effective opposition on our part.
5 responses so far ↓
Steve Rosenbaum // 15/12/2007 at 03:07
On my blog today, I posed a series of questions about schools today. I thought you might like the list or want to expand it.
1. Why is k-12 the only time in your life that you’ll spend all your time with others of the exact same age?
2. Why do we have k-12 instead of some other number of years? I know the historical reasons, but haven’t things changed?
3. Why do we teach subject by subject, in silos, rather than cutting up and sorting what needs to be covered in other ways?
4. Why are teachers basically at the top of their profession the day they start? (There’s a very short career path for teachers.)
5. Why are schools all inclusive, one-stop shopping? Couldn’t kids go to multiple schools at the same time?
6. Why don’t schools teach life and work skills?
7. Why do we have homework instead of having kids finish their work in school?
8. Why do schools need to have their own buildings? Couldn’t they rent out space in the community?
9. Why do schools promote a social system that is so clickie and unlike what people experience out of school?
10. Why is it so hard from one school to learn from and adopt the best practices from others school?
johnnypeepers // 15/12/2007 at 03:11
Preach on holmes! Mandatory government education is a central plank of Marx’s philosophy. The teacher unions and their Marxist allies wield their vast power to the detriments of the little minds full of mush. The kids are indoctrinated to look to the government as their master, provider, and psychological counseling center. The parent’s are contributorily negligent for vacating their primary responsibility, teaching them personal responsibility.
elyakatz // 15/12/2007 at 03:21
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Welcome to my blog Mr. Rosenbaum and Johnnypeepers! Great questions and comments. All I can say, ’cause you two replied so fast…I hadn’t even finished fixing and adding…is, Mr. Rosenbaum deserves his link to be posted as well.
While I appreciate Mr. Peepers comments, as they are indeed true, I can’t post his link. Sorry Johnny, this is a family friendly site. I have no axe to grind when it comes to promoting morality and clean speaking. Yeah, I checked out your site briefly. (blush) On that note, may I also recommend a thought provoking book by rabbi Manis Friedman entitled, “Doesn’t Anybody Blush Anymore?”
Steve Rosenbaum // 15/12/2007 at 08:10
As I read more of your blog, I really like it.
I didn’t know where to actually put this but it’s something that happened to me I thought you’d find funny.
I had a project working with call centers in India. I discovered one of the major reasons they have language problems is that they had learned British English which doesn’t have the heavy influence of Yiddish that you find in American English. Oy!
They also miss the Yiddish sentence structure. So…I had to make up a little job aid with the most common words.
I also had to give them a little idea of Yiddish humor. Here’s the joke I told them for my illustration.
A guy gets two new ties from his mother for Hannuka. He picks one out and wears it to dinner the next night. He’s mother says, “So, you didn’t like the other one.”
elyakatz // 16/12/2007 at 11:13
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You want to be a regular contributor in the “Jokes” section? I’m light in that area…
So, are you saying Sheik Nasrallah has a point? This country is packed with Jews from shore to shore, and run by the Jew George Bush, eh? Oh, excuse me…get my Canadian and Yiddish mixed up.
Gut voch.
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