I agree with Syd’s argument that Gatto provides a strong analysis of the problems of American public schools undermined by a weak slate of potential solutions. The examples of “Washington, Franklin, Jefferson” are meaningless because every generation has brilliant academic thinkers – the question is, was society as a whole better-educated prior to the introduction of the public school system? I would guess not. He cites “2 million happy homeschoolers” as proof public schools are unneeded to provide a basic set of academic skills. This seems staggeringly optimistic about the academic rigor and factual accuracy of home-school curricula; even accepting that, it seems improbable millions of parents will be able to instruct their children at home. The other implied alternative, private schools, have the twin benefits of being prohibitively expensive for most families and even better at diving society into strata than public schools.

The best option is the one that Syd gave: expanding and improving the public school system. The principles Gatto values – free thinking, inquisitiveness, maturity – can be instilled in children through instruction; this has been taken as fact. Public schools, reformed, are the best way to expand those virtues to more children more efficiently.