As I read through the article, Against School by John Gatto, I couldn't help but think of a few of the other articles we have read or talks that we have heard this quarter on education. Gatto and Sir Kenneth Robinson concur that the educational system as we know it was formed in response to the Industrial Revolution because we needed workers to make industry happen. The system we know emphasizes math and language as a measuring stick for how well we are educated and so much of what happens to us is a result of this weeding out process. Those who are good at math and language, or who are at least good at figuring out the game of school, move through to the top and become the bosses of those who did not fair as well. Yet, that is not a true indicator of intelligence or ability. The way we measure lacks the ability to measure character and creativity. In school we are not educated, we learn how to go to school and conform.
Also, when Gatto writes about the selective function of schools I thought about the first part of Mike Rose’s article, I just wanna be average, and how the boy just wanted to be average. Gatto uses Inglis’s break down of the purpose of school and states that, “schools are meant to tag the unfit--with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments--clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive process”. Being average you are not at the total inferior bottom, but you do not have the pressures of being at the top.
"The way we measure lacks the ability to measure character and creativity," great point.
ReplyDelete