When the topic of school is brought up, one of the main questions is what is school really doing for our students? What are our children really being taught? In John Taylor Gatto’s essay “Against School”, he believes that school isn’t really teaching our kids anything about being people, just being able to perform in the workplace and become successful. He believes the government is attempting to teach everyone in school base knowledge to “…breed and train standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.” (Mencken 3) Could this really be true? Is our own government forcing us through a system that turns us from clever young children into alike-thinking adults with no creativity and shameful uniqueness? Gatto mentions a few great Americans who didn’t even finish school and were inventors, politicians, and generals, but that was anywhere from 80-250 years ago. Nowadays students must go to school to prove they know what they know. In the late 18th century up until the very late 19th century, there were no standardized certifications for being a doctor or becoming a dentist or various other jobs that indeed take much schooling. A person didn’t have to finish school, but could read books on the matter at hand. Not saying that it was a good idea, but it definitely occurred. By having standardized schooling, it creates a standard education line so Americans are all educated in the most basic way. It can prepare anyone to do anything by just furthering the amount schooling and stacking previously learned knowledge on top of newly learned knowledge. Just because we have almost the same base in education does NOT mean we think or feel the same way.
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