“George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever ‘graduated’ from a secondary school…

…We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of “success” as synonymous with, or at least dependent upon, ‘schooling,’ but historically that isn’t true in either an intellectual or a fi- nancial sense.”

John Taylor Gatto paints a rather grim picture of the prospects and possibilities denied by schooling (as opposed to the benefits of receiving an education). Although not all of us attended the sort of public schools described by Gatto in the piece, we have all, in some sense, been schooled or accepted schooling, necessarily, in order to arrive at a place like Williams. At the same time, the evidence suggests a second, more nuanced possibility, namely that while most of participate in schooling in order to have “better lives,” our participation comes at a cost, both financial and political. We rein in our freedom in the perhaps dim hope of becoming “successful,” however defined.

Take this assignment as a provocation.  What is your assessment of a meritocracy premised on the ceaseless pursuit of ranking and distinction?  Does a context like Williams—or even our class!—reinforce the claims being made in the piece?

Please keep your answers short (no more than 250 words, if you can!).  Post your reply using the “New Post” feature (but title it using your own creativity).  Make sure to tag it as “First Blog.”  Remember to post a reply to a reply by Monday.  Simply scroll through the entries and reply to whichever one catches your eye!