Schools teach the social order
Many theorists (cf. Durkheim, 1961; Apple et al., 1983; Giroux et al., 1983) posit a theory of a hidden curriculum. This hidden curriculum theory suggests that,…
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Why is homeschool good?
This post is in response to an article I read recently on e-how. The article was titled Why is Homeschool Bad? Well, I challenge that question. I think homeschool is good and I am…
Gatto’s lesson seven: You can’t hide
Gatto (1992, p. 10) describes the students in the classroom as constantly surveilled. There are several means that the schools achieve this constant surveillance. Firstly, according…
Schools teach the social order
Gatto’s lesson seven: You can’t hide
Gatto’s lesson six: Provisional self esteem
Gatto’s lesson five: Intellectual dependency
Gatto’s lesson six: Provisional self esteem
This lesson, provisional self-esteem, is probably my favourite. Gatto (1992, p. 9) states: If you’ve ever tried to wrestle into line kids whose parents have convinced…
Gatto’s lesson five: Intellectual dependency
Gatto (1992, p. 7) states that, unlike good learners, good students “wait for a teacher to tell them what to do”. He states that This is…
Gatto’s lesson four: emotional dependency
Gatto (1992) argues that teachers use stars, reward charts, punishments, prizes, honour lists, stamps, stickers, grades and disgraces to teach kids to surrender their will to…
Gatto’s lesson three: Indifference
In the previous posts, I’ve been outlining Gatto’s seven lessons of school. In this post, I want to explore the links between theory and the third…
Gatto’s lesson two: Class position
In the previous post, I outlined the first of Gatto’s seven lessons of school, confusion. In this post, I want to explore the links between theory…
Gatto’s lesson one: Confusion
In the previous post, I outlined the seven lessons of the school according to John Taylor Gatto. In this, and following posts, I want to demonstrate…
Radio Interview
Yesterday, I did a radio interview on the ABC here in Brisbane (although it was statewide) and talked about my research. I did use the phrase…
The seven lessons of school according to Gatto
In this post, I want to review the work of John Taylor Gatto (see here for his wikipedia entry) in terms of the seven lessons schoolteachers…
