Why Schools Don't Educate

6 Pages 1543 Words

The Problem With Schools Today
 
John Gatto, a former teacher, gives an extreme argument of what is wrong with our education in schools. The teacher gives examples of certain issues affecting the system. The article written by John Gatto, “Why Schools Don’t Educate,” was a compelling description of how horrible our schools are. The article had a list of reasons that were wrong with education and schools that made it hard not to think hard about the issue. I had a lot of different emotions on the subject that Gatto has brought to my attention.
The former teacher argues that schools are almost like a jail for children. That they don’t let kids be individuals and have no idea what kind of life they could have. He explains that schools don’t teach anything except for how to obey orders. This article also proposes that society is disintegrating and that only confidant, self-reliant, and individualistic people are successful in life.
Gatto has explains that the schools hurt the sense of community by making children not part of daily life. “Children and old people are penned up and locked away from the business of the world without precedent; nobody talks to them anymore. Without children and old people mixing in daily life, a community has no future and no past; only a continuous present. In fact, the name community hardly applies to the way we interact with each other. We live in networks, not communities, and everyone I know is lonely because of that. In some strange way, a school is a major actor in this tragedy, just as it is a major actor in the widening gulf among social classes.”(180). I believe in some aspects of life that this is true. Adults are constantly telling children what to do and what is wrong, it is hard for kids to broaden their horizons in today’s society. Teachers are a big part of this problem; not being able to explain to kids in a right manner. Today’s society needs children to grow up a...