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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading