About this title: This radical treatise on public education has been a best-seller for 10 years! Thirty years of award-winning teaching in New York City's public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders as cogs in the industrial machine. In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of 'Dumbing Us Down' and to keep this classic current, the publisher has renewed the cover art, added new material about John and the impact of the book, and a new Foreword.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Fine. 086571231X New Society trade paperback, 2001 (17th) printing, clean/tight, No marks/tears or defects...Fine (like new)...Bubble-wrapped and mailed in a Box w/delivery confirmation. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New Society Pub
Date Published: 2002-04-01
ISBN-13:9780865714489ISBN:0865714487
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780865714489. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780865714489ISBN:0865714487
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: Not Given
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, PA
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780865712317ISBN:086571231X
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Tall. "DUMBING UP DOWN reveals the deafening heart of compulsory state schooling: assumptions and structures that stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity, concentration and solitude essential to learning. Between schooling and television, our children have precious little time to learn for themselves about the community they live in, or the lives they might lead. " This book has 104 pages. The text contains NO internal markings whatsoever. read more
Edition: Not Given
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, PA
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780865712317ISBN:086571231X
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Tall. "DUMBING UP DOWN reveals the deafening heart of compulsory state schooling: assumptions and structures that stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity, concentration and solitude essential to learning. Between schooling and television, our children have precious little time to learn for themselves about the community they live in, or the lives they might lead. " This book has 104 pages. The text contains NO internal markings whatsoever. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: New Society Publishers, Limited, Gabriola Island, British Columbia
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9781550921755ISBN:1550921754
Description: Very Good + in softcover. 23 by 16 cm. 104 pages. Trade size. Light wear to corners. Bright, clean. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Date Published: 1991-09
ISBN-13:9780865712317ISBN:086571231X
Description: New. Gift condition, Priority Shipping recommended for prompt delivery by USPS when offered, Delivery Confirmation on all domestic items where available. read more
Edition: 2 REV ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS Country = UNITED STATES
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780865714489ISBN:0865714487
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 103 pages. (103 pages) edition 2 rev ed (Paperback) read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: New Society Pub, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780865712300ISBN:0865712301
Description: Very Good. Nice Copy! Clean tight unmarked uncreased book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Date Published: 1991-09
ISBN-13:9780865712317ISBN:086571231X
Description: Very Good. 2001 17th printing paperback no marks and is in very good condition All of our products are cleaned with an disinfectant for your protection before shipping. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780865714489ISBN:0865714487
Description: Good. Signed by Author Inscribed to owner by John Taylor Gatto. Covers have moderate shelfwear with front top outer corner torn off and front bottom outer corner tattered. read more
Description: Good. Edges curling on cover. corners little worn. address sticker on cover. name on title page., Used-Good. Sound Copy. Mild Reading Wear. Books uploaded via isbn and stock photos may be different than actual book. read more
"OK... so, if not for Gatto's keen (IMHO) appraisal of the real purposes behind state schooling, it would've gotten only two stars. I appreciated a lot of the principles he discusses, but there are a couple rough edges that I couldn't get past.
First, it's a collection of speeches. As such, it's practically a transcript (if not precisely) - written in colloquial way that is actually downright awkward on occasion, for reading. Several times I had to stop, go back, and sort through the sentence structure to figure out exactly what Gatto was talking about.
Second, I kept having this nagging thought that, "well, if the system's that evil and broken, why are you working in it, getting Teacher of the Year awards? And why do they keep asking you to speak?" (I had a 1992 printing, and I'm not entirely sure when he left the profession.) Not that that inherently *means* anything, but it was just this little nagging feeling the whole time I was reading.
Don't get me wrong - I think Gatto is spot-on regarding the aims of "schooling" as opposed to *education*. I learned where state education got its start, and I learned how & why. There's some valuable info here. I just didn't feel like his social recommendations were quite as logical as the problems he laid out, and it was a rather awkward read. Truthfully, for his effort, Gatto probably could've stopped after the first section and just added a few paragraphs of history to make a more concise write-up. :)"
"Gatto was an award-winning public school teacher of thirty years, but developed a distaste for the conformity and agenda that has become a part of our common American school system. He argues that long hours, forced learning, and teaching our children that there is only one right answer (not allowing them to question and come to their own conclusions) is actually hurting our childrens minds and will keep many from achieving their dreams and becoming independent thinkers. He also argues that our childrens natural love of learning is being slowly strangled by a system which continually forces it's own standards and measures their worth against it. Another alarming conclusion is that the social system within the schools causes children to close up emotionally, which hinders their relations to others, even to their own family and community. His solution to all of this is a "return to democracy, individuality, and family". He says that children need to be involved in the real world (not an institution), and that they need time and freedom to self-teach, exploring every interest without being forced to do so, and that the family should truly be the center of their life (not splitting their attentions away from home). While I think that Gatto has some well thought out and excellent points I do think his tone is a little bit abrasive, which may make some people resistant to his arguments."
"The two speech excerpts were pretty muchthe only parts of this book worth reading - in those excerpts, he does a good job of outlining the deficiencies of public schooling as it currently exists, and many of his ideas fall in line with other, more well researched authors when I comes to the destructive effects of standardization, bell schedules, segregation by age and ability, competetition, and all the other stuff that really hinders any sort of learning.
While he does not really use any research to back up his case, his 30 years of experience and teaching awards do add a good amount of authority and legitimacy to his words. Had he left it at that, I would have probably given this book 3 or 4 stars.
However, the second section of the book is where he lost me - itreads more like a free form screed and less like a reasoned argument. No cited research to back up controversial claims, a very one sided and not always reasonable approach ruined this segment of the book. For a much better version of his work, I suggest checking out "Weapons of Mass Instruction" by the same author - he actually cites research and makes well resoned arguments in that book, and makes a really solid case for home schooling."
""...the idea I began to explore was this one: that teaching is nothing like the art of painting, where, by the addition of material to a surface, an image is synthetically produced, but more like the art of sculpture, where, by the subtraction of material, an image already locked in the stone is enabled to emerge."
"People have to be allowed to make their own mistakes and try again, or they will never master themselves, although they may well seem to be competent when they have in fact only memorized or imitated someone else's performance."
On Intellectual Dependency...
"Curiosity has no important place in my work, only conformity. Bad kids fight this, of course, even though they lack the concepts to know what they are fighting, struggling to make decisions for themselves about what they will learn and when they will learn it. How can we allow that and survive as schoolteachers?"
On Provisional Self Esteem...
"The lesson of report cards, grades, and tests is that children should not trust themselves or their parents but should instead rely on the evaluation of certified officials. People need to be told what they are worth."
"Global economics does not speak to the public need for meaningful work, affordable housing, fulfilling education, adequate medical care, a clean environment, honest and accountable government, social and cultural renewal, or simple justice. All global ambitions are based on a definition of productivity and the good life so alienated from common human reality that I am convinced it is wrong and that most people would agree with me if they could conceive an alternative."
"Children and old people are locked away from the business of the world to a degree without precedent; nobody talks to them anymore, and without children and old people mixing in daily life; a community has no future and no past, only a continuous present.""
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