John Gatto Against School Essay

Knowledgeable, educated, and wise have become descriptive characteristics that have become seemingly interchangeable in today’s society. However, what does it mean to be educated, wise or knowledgeable? In the article “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer” by Benjamin Barber, he says “…young people were exposed more and more to tutors other than teachers in their classrooms or even those who were in their churches, their synagogues-and today their mosques as well.” (417). It is suggested that the places where these characteristics are obtained have changed with industrialization and capitalism. “The Student and the University (from the Closing of the American Mind)” by Allen Bloom directly postulates from the vantage

In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto criticizes America’s system of schooling children, arguing that the whole system is bad and unfixable. In the majority of the essay Gatto relies on personal anecdotes, historical examples that do not correspond with modern day society, and bold unsubstantiated claims. Due to this, instead of convincing parents to take their children out of school and rethink our societies schooling structure, he just leaves the reader confused over what the problems he’s criticizing truly are.

To furthermore explain his reasoning, he rhetorically questioned his own hypothesis of there being a problem in our system. “What if there is no "problem" with our schools? What if they are the way they are, so expensively flying in the face of common sense and long experience in how children learn things, not because they are doing something wrong but because they are doing something right? Is it possible that George W. Bush accidentally spoke the truth when he said we would "leave no child behind"? Could it be that our schools are designed to make sure not one of them ever really grows up” (Gatto 5). “Do we really need school” is the question he asks the reader. By doing this he made the reader rethink about the compulsory schooling students have to go through to be “successful” in life. Gatto questions why we have to go to school, “six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever "graduated" from a secondary school. Throughout most of American history, kids generally didn't go to high school, yet the unschooled rose to be admirals, like Farragut; inventors, like Edison; captains of industry, like Carnegie and Rockefeller; writers, like Melville and Twain and Conrad;

In “Blue Collar Brilliance” Mike Rose starts of by telling us two stories, one about his mother and the other about his uncle Joe. They worked what people would call blue collar jobs; everybody usually perceives blue collar jobs as grunt work which doesn’t take much intelligence to work. However Rose disagrees with that notion; Rose describes to us in detail how his moms’ intellect in the restaurant work field kept the place calm, efficient and balanced. He also told us a story of how his uncle Joe worked up the ranks of the auto industry after dropping out of school in the ninth grade. One of Rose’s main points in “Blue Collar Brilliance” is that intelligence isn’t always measured with grades and tests and, that blue collar jobs take just

Many people consider book smart the only form of intelligence, but a lot of people who attended college and obtained a degree can’t perform a basic task of changing a flat tire. So does that make those people unintelligent? Mike Rose explains in “Blue Collar Brilliance” and Gerald Graff explains in “Hidden Intellectualism” that there are many different forms of intelligence. In Rose’s article, he explains how he observed his mother along with other family members work blue-collar jobs. He explains how everyone involved with blue collared work develops a sense of intelligence in many different forms. In Graff’s article, he explains how schools and colleges are doing a poor job at getting the full potential out of students. Graff thinks that if we give students things they like to read then they will progress to more scholarly readings. Both authors describe how society doesn’t value all types of intellectualism. Rose explains how people are stereotyping blue-collared jobs and not appreciating them. Graff explains how schools and colleges aren’t fostering intellectualism because they don’t take interests into account.

Another mode of development Gatto used in his essay was compare/contrast. Gatto shows his opinion by saying, “if we wanted to we could easily and inexpensively jettison the old, stupid structures and help kids take an education rather than merely receive a schooling” (149). He then questions if “we really need school?” Not meaning education, “just forced schooling” (149). Gatto obviously shows a contrast of “schooling” and “education”. Notice he emphasizes the difference between “receive schooling” and “take an education” which is also another mode, extended definition. Another compare/contrast he shows in the essay is how a number of American heroes were never involved in a school system, yet they still were incredibly smart and managed to succeed while making an indent in history. But now in the modern world “we have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, ‘schooling’, but historically that isn’t true in either an intellectual or a financial sense” (Gatto 150). This also is indeed a very effective argument, simply because he uses factual history and the modern world to show a compare and contrast.

Most people, when asked, say that a person is intelligent if they have “book smarts.” People that are book smart can write and converse about subjects taught in school. On the other hand, people with “street smarts” aren’t seen as intellectuals because the subjects they are knowledgeable about are not traditional. In his essay called “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff insists that schools and colleges are missing an opportunity to translate street smarts into academic work.

Answer: Gatto thinks school is boring because the teachers and students are bored with material. The students say they already know the material. I can compare my school experience to Gatto’s depiction of school. My experience in elementary was a breeze and easy. Then I entered secondary school and was shocked. I was shocked that I had nobody to hold my hand and tell me what to do. I was given assignments and dues dates. It was up to me to get them done in time. My teacher’s taught me with their opinion, I really

The essay ‘Against the school’ by John Taylor Gatto draws our attention on to all the cons of attending twelve years of high-school. Gatto has experience in teaching profession for twenty-six years in schools of Manhattan, he shares from his experience that he majored in boredom and could see that everywhere around him. He also points out the initial reason why schools came into existence and what the purpose it fulfils now. He also educates us on the fact that all the great discoverers never attended school and were self-educated.The main idea Gatto addresses in his article are that public schooling is doing the youth an injustice.He implies that the purpose of schooling, now is to turn children into good employes and someone who follows orders.

In the article, "Blue Collar Brilliance" Mark Rose shows his thought that hands on employments shouldn't be seen as foolish. Society characterizes knowledge in view of grades and IQ tests, however numbers doesn't characterize the workers in the fields. Rose points out that his mom's employment as a waitress and his uncle's occupation in the paint-and-body office are two individuals with a less education is skillful in their job by gaining hand-on experience and knowledge.

In conclusion, I agree with Mike Roses' Essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” because in my own personal life experiences I have seen first hand that you do not have to be well educated to be intelligent. My spouse works as a garbage man and at first glance you would never know how intelligent he is just by his profession, but he is very skilled from everything to troubleshooting mechanical equipment to carrying on philosophical conversations and religious

In the United States, there has been, and always will be a debate on education.While some feel it is very important and crucial to success, others feel it is unessential to our happiness and well being. Many assume that education and success are directly associated with intellectualism. In this essay, I will review the current trend in research on intellectualism, which many feel is to enforce pursuing a higher education, due to a common belief among the American people that those who do not receive a higher education are seemingly less intelligent. Research on this topic increasingly suggests that those who receive a higher education, tend to make more money, rating them as more successful in the eyes of

Academic work should not define intelligence nor should a job define ability; a person, regardless of grades, degrees, or job title, is an intellect. Together, Gerald Graff, a coauthor of They Say I say, professor, and former anti-intellect, author of "Hidden Intellectualism," and Mike Rose, professor, author, and in depth thinker, author of "Blue-Collar Brilliance," share two different perspectives on what an intellect truly is. Yet, both writings hold meaningful points and experiences to prove who qualifies to be an intellect. Society continuously focuses on what leads to a successful and rounded life: go to school, graduate, go back to school, get a degree, and then a job. It is believed that these high expectations of higher academics enables one to be more successful is correct; however, it is not. It is a person’s individual goals that give them the success they wish to have whether that be education, volunteering, or donating. Also, street smarts is not to be overlooked; a person with common sense can know more than a Doctor. Typically, a person can have either common sense or intelligence, not both. Street smarts is, without a doubt, a superior quality to possess as it encompasses more in life than just a degree does. For example, it is more appropriate to know how to cross a street properly in life than know how to perform a craniotomy. Furthermore, one does not gain knowledge and life lessons through school alone, but through experience,

Many people in today’s society tend to believe that a good education is the fastest way to move up the ladder in their chosen. People believe that those who seek further education at a college or university are more intelligent. Indeed, a college education is a basic requirement for many white collar, and some blue collar, jobs. In an effort to persuade his audience that intelligence cannot be measured by the amount of education a person has Mike Rose wrote an article entitled “Blue Collar Brilliance”. The article that appeared in the American Scholar, a quarterly literary magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, established in 1932. The American Scholar audience includes, Company’s , Employees,