John Holt 's Views On Education

In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto submits his conspiratorial beliefs apropos the suggested chicanery and skulduggery present in American school systems to a wide range of audience members, ranging from concerned parents to the worldwide educational community. Throughout his article, Gatto calls into question several aspects of the modern education present in the United States, his scathing and unnervingly well reasoned timbre astonishing readers into reassessing their own experience in the education system. These appalling points, which one may at first believe only exist to steal the attention of any reader, are a key strategy in Gatto’s article which allow readers to set aside prior notions of skepticism towards educational

Unschooling is different from traditional grade-level structural education in every aspect of its design, rather than placing a child in a classroom of four walls and teaching what the government has constructed it allows the child to determine their syllabus. The controversy about unschooling is the freedom that the students receive. The teachers sole purpose is to provide an environment to nurture the students interest, in the students own way while providing what’s needed to follow those interest (Morrison, 2016). This system of homeschooling allows an extraordinary amount of play for students under the philosophy that through play will arouse learning within the student and most importantly the student will entertain learning while progressing on their own terms. The end goal that parents seek is to embrace and nurture their child’s desire to become life-long learners that seek

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.

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 1980, homeschooling was illegal in 30 states. Later on, it was recognized as a parent's right across the country in the year 1993 (Martin, 2014). A survey was made to the respondents. They were asked if homeschooling was an acceptable means of education. As the results of Phi Delta Kappan Gallup survey, Americans have become more receptive to the idea of homeschooling. They think that homeschooling has become an alternative option to public schools because it is more socially acceptable (Moreau, 2012). In the previous related study, it was mentioned that the increase of homeschooled students had been consistent. It only shows that the acceptance of homeschooling has been broad as the years passed

Not long ago, my parents received an endless amount of criticism, similar to the Walls’ family, for their decision to homeschool my siblings and me. Many “feared” for us, because according to them, there was no way we were going to learn effectively at home, what we could in a formal school. My mom tells me stories of how people she’d known expressed genuine concern over the idea of educating children in a different way than what is deemed “normal.” I do not blame these people for their concern, as they were raised in a society that emphasizes a single approach to learning. Although there were definitely times growing up when I wished to attend a brick and mortar school like “normal” people, after a certain age I genuinely appreciated my parent’s decision. Being home-schooled has taught me so much more than just the basic principles of education. I grew up being highly self-reliant due to my online school requiring students to be almost entirely responsible for keeping up with their work. Similar to college, I had a syllabus provided to me, and had no one other than myself to make sure I was on top of everything. This helped me to become a responsible and well-organized individual. I also gained a quality education, despite all of the fear and concern of those around me. I still have to answer the questions, “Why were you homeschooled?” and, “Didn’t you want to go to regular school?” more

Upon consideration of the education crisis that currently is the United States’ educational system there have developed intangible amounts of controversy, each one in itself claiming to have solved the problem or to have identified what truly is wrong with it. The most strained trend of these controversies is the view on school system policy, policy being what makes a school system unique also is claimed to be the big issue of the U.S. However, in the current state of this country in dire need of resolution it is evident that no change in policy can solve a much greater issue, one that stands more than just in the way of education but the emancipation of a dream, the American Dream. The fault lies not in the policy of the system, but in

Along with the progression of time and age, more and more students and their parents are expressing their dissatisfaction and vexation with the American public school system. Turning towards alternative methods ranging from private institutions, to removing their children from public schooling altogether and homeschooling instead, this leaves a multitude of people questioning, what is the problem, why is it present, and what is it stemming from? The answer is simple. The problem with America’s public school system is the inability of institutions to accurately see and meet the true needs of students.

Caution: Unsocialised Homeschoolers is an article that addresses the concerns parents have about the quality of social development their children have access to if they chose to homeschool. It also challenges popular assumptions on homeschoolers’ social competence while answering objections that opponents raise. I argue that, rather than isolating and inhibiting social maturity and understanding, homeschooling has the potential to catalyse the processes and produce young people who are socially perceptive and understanding. Two of the ways I presented my case were by using personal experiences and diction to create pathos appeals, and by introducing ideas that my audience would find themselves in most agreement with.

This article addresses the issue of current public schooling, and how it has gotten to be problematic because it strips students of their desire and longing to truly learn. The author challenges the structure of public educational systems, becaue of how it looks to form students into predictable, dutiful individuals of society. By impacting students to acclimate, and isolating the individuals who don't "succeed" or go along from the individuals who do, public education enforces social stratification and support on people who are faithful, making a society devoid of inventiveness and development. Besides, the social stratification is supported by how government schools attempt to decide every student's social part, and after that lock them

There are two categories of schooling theory that will be discussed in this book: “Old School” (OS) and “Non-traditional” schooling. The first has information ‘drilled in,’ worksheets and behaviorism, and an emphasis on obedience. Students are individualized and run through like clockwork as teachers fill their brains like buckets -- math is usually the subject where this is the worst. In the second, children are taken seriously, and student questions shape the curriculum; critical thinking is fostered, students learn from each other, and the community is one of learning -- usually the arts are where this theory comes through the most. Before

One element that diminishes Holt’s essay is generalizations. He tries to use generalizations to make it appear as though school is an evil place that needs to be saved. For instance, he says, “Almost every child, on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter more curious, less afraid of what he does not know, better at finding and figuring things out … then he will ever be at school” (72). It is apparent that this statement is not always true. This only applies to some kids, but the majority of kids need school to start learning about the world they live in. Some kids can do it by themselves, most cannot. Most kids need to be shown an example on how to do something first then they can work out the problem by themselves, and the best place to get that first example is in a school. In another essay titled “The Kids” the author, Rosenya Faith, states, “A significant amount of schoolwork throughout the grades is dedicated to helping children become expert problem solvers and solution-seekers, skills that will come in handy in just about every personal and professional aspect of a child's adult life” (two). By generalizing how smart all children are when they enter school and how they learn, Holt shows that his way of thinking only applies to a select few not to everyone, and since Holt is writing to the American people as a whole, and not to those select few his argument is weakened.

Many parents followed Holt in his ideas about education and still home school their children based on Holt’s philosophy (Koetzsch, 1997).

Homeschooling, not very well known, presents a new and affordable way to educate children. “Home school is a term used to refer to the education of children by their parents or guardians in a setting other than a public or private school” (Anderman & Anderman, p. 467). It has never been a new thing; it just has not been as popular as it used to be (Lines, p. 76). With this topic meaning so much to groups for and against the right for homeschooling and what should be legalized or not, the debate still rages on from local to even national government entities. Both sides of the argument have valid points, but ultimately it is the choice of the parents. There are many types of ways to educate children and that decision is difficult for both

We tend to forget that whatever tools students need are not necessarily the ones that we received. For if we were trained for yesterday, students, on the other hand, will live and work twenty and thirty years from now, in a world whose contours we can hardly fathom. Schooling is trapped in the instruction mode, or in other words, indoctrination, far from the aspired horizon of education, as a communal, complex and liberating phenomenon. Reform movements cannot redeem the school from its shortcomings: they are merely more of the same, albeit in a different form; some sort of patchwork jobs.