The last sentence of your post hits the nail on the head: so much of our schooling is focused solely on immediate (primarily economic) advancement, rather than the long-term development of students as scholars and people. I believe this also relates perfectly to Gatto’s point about the Prussian roots of our education system and the creation of a manageable populace.

Of note is historian Ellwood Cubberly’s comments about Horace Mann, who Gatto mentions as one of the early champions of this system of public education: “No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of education ends.” On the surface, these goals seem admirable, but the actual implementation of these ideas has contributed to the superficial, controlling schooling that we know today has led to the degradation of our public education system.