While I agree with Gatto\u2019s argument about the role that the modern education system serves in the reproduction and repression of the citizenry, his solution to the problem, self-educating children, fails to addresses the wider influence on society that our education system has. Education teaches people what to value and what not to value. Gatto himself points this out when breaking down the six functions. He writes, \u201cSchools are meant to tag the unfit – with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments – clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes.\u201d Schools label the \u201cunfit\u201d, but more importantly they socialize people to also unconsciously label the \u201cunfit.\u201d The same process, informed by the obedience and conformity that are taught in school, occurs in other institutions. Gatto\u2019s example from his experience in the New York Public School System demonstrates this. His efforts to work outside of the norms of the classroom led to his eventual firing. Deviance is always met with sanctions. The unconventional thought that Gatto strives for would not be valued in society. It would be dismissed and sometimes would be actively repressed. The solution to the problem of the modern education system therefore cannot be circumvented just by individual action. Reforming the education system to value the unconventional would be the only way to promote the kind of education that Gatto strives for. However, perhaps it is not possible to reform, because education systems were not built to manage citizens, not educate them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While I agree with Gatto\u2019s argument about the role that the modern education system serves in the reproduction and repression of the citizenry, his solution to the problem, self-educating children, fails to addresses the wider influence on society that our … Continue reading