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Marshall D. Richards

Mr. Sutterfield

Comp. 1

September 16th 2015

Student To Servant: A Summary and Critique of “Against School - How Public Education

Cripples Our Kids, and Why”

American Education credits itself with the ability to mold students into active citizens,

but certain proud individuals protest this process. Venerated veteran of the New York City

school system, John Taylor Gatto pens the piece “Against School” giving a case in contest to the

modern exercise of “schooling” and its attempt at developing a labor class of citizens. Gatto talks

through his experiences in American education to explain the problem he sees with it. He then

presents the schooling system’s origins and implications by proposing its connection to

consumerism and systemic classism. The author stresses what solution should be carried out to

combat this schooling system. Gatto presents a case that demonstrates the fracturing of education

by the insertion of schooling and how this process contributes to the dependent nature of society;

Gatto derives this argument from a confirmation bias based on contingent facts and unstable

interjections organized in such a way that it serves as a disingenuous attempt at persuasion.

Gatto defines the problem of schooling as the mandatory education system which seeks

to impart dependency to its students. Gatto offers evidence of personal and anecdotal nature to

reassure his disregard with schooling. In his occupational journey, Gatto served as a teacher in

Manhattan schools; he had the opportunity to survey, in his words, the best and worst learning

environments. Gatto observed boredom in schools stemming from both teacher and student. He

concludes that such a response is to be blamed on both parties with equality, and he claims it is

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the fault of the whole for instituting practices leading to boredom. Gatto offers examples of

successful historical figures like Ben Franklin who did not attend a mandatory session of

schooling, rather they pursued their education in an independent manner. He uses all of this to

show that a flawed view has been born in America that states that education is synonymous with

schooling; Gatto wants to explore the point at which these two were combined.

Gatto sets out to unravel the source of schooling and what arises from it. He asserts

evidence from Horace Mann’s “Seventh Annual Report” to the Massachusetts State Board of

Education in 1843 as proof of Prussian influence of on American Education. Added to Mann’s

evidence is Gatto’s claim that famous satirist H. L. Mencken gave warning of Prussianization as

well. The Prussianization Gatto feared was use of schools as a way of creating a manageable and

dependent populous; this populous being one that cannot function on its own due to a lack of

intellect and analytical skills. Gatto connects the Prussianization of American education with the

creation of a preserver for capitalism. What draws Gatto into this connection is the way that

James Bryant Conant, a president of Harvard and WWI poison-gas specialist, describes in his

1959 essay, “The Child The Parent and The State,” that education methods practiced today result

from a revolution between 1905 and 1930 linking directly to Germany and the thoughts of

Alexander Inglis. Gatto’s inclusion of Inglis’s book, Principles of Education serves as a way of

showing that American schooling principles, taken from Prussia, are designed to create a

populous of dependable, manageable workers that serve an industrial capitalist economy. Further

speculation as to the nature of schooling follows with Gatto’s finality that school is designed to

keep maturity out of society. Gatto interjects that a way out needs to be found.

Gatto compiles a plan to combat modern schooling by reversing its tricks. He claims that

by using opposing tactics , society can overcome systematic, mandatory education. Gatto posits

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tactics like teaching students with an independent nature, allowing for flexibility and autonomy

in education, and pushing students to pursue practical applications of the knowledge learned in

school. He reissues his statement on examples of great men like Ben Franklin who did not attend

school and turned out successful as a way of confiding the idea of using opposing stratagem.

Gatto claims the reason behind society’s disturbing education is system lies in an ignorance of

how to control itself.

In the beginning there was school, and it was flawed according to Gatto. His rudimentary

claim about the flawed schooling system in America stems from Gatto’s emotional distress and

over-generalizations. Gatto formulates his problem using “evidence” like his teacher’s lounge

experiences as a way of reconciling that boredom exists in school. Although reform of education

is a necessity for a 21st century societal reform, it is not a necessity by way of Gatto’s stretched

credentials that were questioned by his employer or by his use of derogatory descriptions of

schooling like “deadly routine.” The agreeable task he performs in the introduction of his

problematic spiel, though, is the distinction drawn between education and schooling. This allows

for the reader to better understand the problem of schooling and how it has invaded education.

Gatto positions a rather obscure and misunderstood claim by H. L. Mencken to serve as a

secondary assurance for his argument, but it ends up confusing Gatto’s argument’s legitimacy.

After spending a brief time on sources for his origin story of the Prussianization of American

education, Gatto begins a rant of speculation about how consumerism is derived from schooling

methodology. And while convincing, it is not argued for well. He uses ambiguous references to

Marxist conceptions to show that American schooling is “In the interest of complex

management…” Alexander Inglis stands as Gatto’s only source for tying together the concept of

schooling within a consumerist society.

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Gatto’s reformative ideas on what to change in education are clearly conjecture. He lists

no evidence for his approaches to radical reform. Gatto relies strictly on his questionable

credibility and citation of exemplary men to adjure that mandatory education is not necessary. In

the end, Gatto claims that the reason for disagreement on education is because “We haven’t yet

figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women;” and in this same way,

Gatto has not yet found a solution.

Gatto’s posturing of this issue remains to settle the issue of what to do about the

American education system. Gatto has shown it to be flawed and unwilling to accommodate

everyone, but he still has not brought a settlement to this issue. In addition, he presents a heavily

subjective argument that could have been more accurately formulated with evidence. Although

provoking, Gatto’s thought process is one that has been interpreted among the masses as a

commonplace one, and it has been addressed in a number of ways that seem unsettling. In this

way, it reaffirms Gatto’s wisdom that the methods for managing society have not been found yet,

and perhaps they never will.