Public Education: Flawed, but our best option

While Gatto certainly points out some of the troubling aspects of our current schooling system, I do not believe that schools are as intellectually limiting as Gatto suggests. Gatto claims that our educational system is “deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens.” However, Gatto is mistaken in this claim because the public education system allows students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to become educated and get to institutions like Williams.

Although our current education system fosters inequality, Gatto’s proposed alternative would undoubtedly be far worse. Encouraging parents to take their children’s’ education into their own hands rather then send them to school, will only create further inequality and limit certain children’s ability to succeed later in life. Naturally, parents who are relatively secure financially and have jobs that enable them to spend a lot of time with their children will be able to encourage and educate their children, while parents who must work long hours or multiple jobs in order to support their families will, for good reason, be unable to prioritize the intellectual stimulation of their children. This proposal would only move us further away from a true meritocracy, where hard work is the only predictor of success.

I believe that Williams does not reinforce the claims being made in the piece because Williams strives to admit students from extremely diverse backgrounds who have strived to get the most out of the educational system, rather than be suppressed and limited by it.

11 thoughts on “Public Education: Flawed, but our best option

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  6. I definitely agree with the stated flaws in Gatto’s “teach your own” (38) suggestions. The school environment equips children with social skills due to having to resolve problems via cooperation: the solution to interpersonal issues, which go beyond endeavors in raw academic material (of “history, literature, philosophy,” etc.), but still certainly “grown-up material” in its own right. The development of social skills not only benefits a student entering the workforce, but a human trying to survive on this planet; as social beings, the classroom can help refine such abilities when students are forced to work with another person. Gatto argues that public schools develop a “servile labor force” (37) out of our nation’s youth, but aren’t there some silver linings to that? The team can succeed in much more than the individual, and the school setting has the power to teach this lesson to its students, and to motivate them to hone their skills. Moreover, going beyond any lesson a parent could teach, schooling allows children to expand their perspectives to a multidimensional view, while integrating the crucial social skills of collaboration, debate, even competition, thus offering access to a realm of knowledge beyond the walls of their homes. With children at school for about seven hours a day, they probably will not jump at the option to pursue more studies upon returning home, especially if they have homework to do.
    While I also agree that Williams does not support a number of Gatto’s models, it’s important to note key distinctions between our college and the more specific educational system Gatto is critiquing. Aside from the most blatant disparity of funding, Williams self-selects motivated students and faculty, thus suppressing the horrific “boredom” of the essay’s opening. Despite these foundational differences, Williams’ educational model certainly can offer possible ways of rejuvenating our nation’s education system. The prospect of an unpredictable Mountain Day is sure to add energy and excitement to any classroom.

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