Gatto unveils a critical flaw of the United States’ schooling system — the shortcoming that we are teaching our kids to think solely within the capacity of our mundane curriculum. We are teaching students to fall victim to the “virtual factories of childishness” (Gatto 34), meaning the bar set for students to challenge themselves to pursue higher level academic interests is low. Moreover, the curricula is rooted in the past and does not promote students to think about the challenges that will be faced in the future. The implementation of our school system, as Gatto points out, stems from Prussia. When the United States galvanized a movement to get American kids in school in the early 20th century officials turned to Prussia’s educational model. The result, while increasing the number of students attending schools across the country, were dismal. Children were thinking reflexively, not critically, meaning their brains weren’t being creatively challenged the way they should have been. The premise of this new system was to churn out students from public schools to be a manageable, mediocre populous to fit the mold of ordinary, mildly talented people. Another notion of Gatto’s I found interesting was that students are “receiving schooling”, but there is a stark contrast to “receiving school” and “getting an education” — the latter of which is more desirable because it encourages students to take their education into their own hands. Reading this article in the context of today’s placed importance on academics, it seems imperative that students take their studies and education into their own hands. Conformity is no longer the status quo many millennials and especially Generation Z adolescents want to partake in in society. Hailing from a city such as San Francisco, a place where innovation and eccentricity has become the forefront of technology, I cannot imagine an educational system that does not bring students up to recognize the importance of exploring their creativity.