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dumbing_us_down [2011/12/15 17:48]
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dumbing_us_down [2019/11/08 10:39] (current)
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| "Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling", [[wp>John Taylor Gatto]], [[wp>2005]] (first ed. [[wp>1992]]), [[wp>New Society Publishers]], ISBN 978-0-86571-448-9 | "[[wp>Dumbing Us Down]]: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling", [[wp>John Taylor Gatto]], [[wp>2005]] (first ed. [[wp>1992]]), [[wp>New Society Publishers]], ISBN 978-0-86571-448-9 |
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| //Dumbing Us Down// is a collection of five essays, often themselves based on lectures. It is a short and lean book, making abridgement relatively difficult, at least so long as the original structure is preserved --- there is some repetition between chapters. | //Dumbing Us Down// is a collection of five essays, often themselves based on lectures. The essays weren't written with a cohesive objective in mind, and as a result individual essays will tackle a point very concisely, but often repeat a statement that is made elsewhere. A better abridgement might restructure the entire work so as to avoid this repetition, but that would be of less use to a reader that intends to use this to locate the most interesting essay or segment to read in full. |
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| The standard of citation is more what you'd expect from speeches than essays. Sometimes sources are referred to broadly; specific documents are never mentioned. Herein, notes have usually been included where statistical assertions have been made concerning their origin and justification. | The standard of citation is more what you'd expect from speeches than essays. Sometimes sources are referred to broadly; specific documents are never mentioned. Herein, notes have usually been included where statistical assertions have been made concerning their origin and justification. |
| - **One Can't Hide**: school enables a fantastic level of surveillance coupled with the absolute denial of any right to privacy or independence. This prevents children from developing the ability to be alone or to work independently. It is enhanced by encouraging students to inform on one another, and on their parents. It is extended beyond school hours by monopolising their time at home with homework. | - **One Can't Hide**: school enables a fantastic level of surveillance coupled with the absolute denial of any right to privacy or independence. This prevents children from developing the ability to be alone or to work independently. It is enhanced by encouraging students to inform on one another, and on their parents. It is extended beyond school hours by monopolising their time at home with homework. |
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| These lessons, and the type of children that they produce, are reflected in various societal problems. People defer uncritically to experts. They have less mastery of beneficial skills, relying instead to experts (eg in areas like craft, cooking, construction, mechanical repair, etc). They are emotionally unprepared to spend time alone. They require their entertainment to be provided for them pre-packaged (especially through television). They live in atrophied communities, that are no longer held together by the transmission of skills and knowledge from old to young and general fraternisation of all ages. | These lessons, and the type of children that they produce, are reflected in various societal problems. People defer uncritically to experts. They have less mastery of beneficial skills, relying instead on experts (eg in areas like craft, cooking, construction, mechanical repair, etc). They are emotionally unprepared to spend time alone. They require their entertainment to be provided for them pre-packaged (especially through television). They live in atrophied communities, that are no longer held together by the transmission of skills and knowledge from old to young and general fraternisation between all ages. |
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| > [W]ithout the fearfulness, selfishness, and inexperience of children, our schools could not survive at all, nor could I as a certified schoolteacher. No common school that actually dared to teach the use of critical thinking tools --- like the dialectic, the heuristic, or other devices that free minds should employ --- would last very long before being torn to pieces. ---p17 | > [W]ithout the fearfulness, selfishness, and inexperience of children, our schools could not survive at all, nor could I as a certified schoolteacher. No common school that actually dared to teach the use of critical thinking tools --- like the dialectic, the heuristic, or other devices that free minds should employ --- would last very long before being torn to pieces. ---p17 |
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| This structure is not inevitable. Historically, the United States became a literate society before the majority were schooled --- research indicates that literacy was probably close to one hundred per cent amongst non-slaves on the eastern seaboard at the time of the American revolution. The development of compulsory schooling had a different purpose: to prepare working-class children for docile service in factories, responding to perceived socialistic threats, particularly in 1848 and 1919. The ability of the public school system to defend and appropriate resources resulted in a gradual creep that captured the middle classes in the same system, and it is still able to convince society that all failures of education can be addressed in essentially the same way: more education and more resources for education. | This structure is not inevitable. Historically, the United States became a literate society before the majority were schooled --- research indicates that literacy was probably close to one hundred per cent amongst non-slaves on the eastern seaboard at the time of the American revolution.((No source supplied.)) The development of compulsory schooling had a different purpose: to prepare working-class children for docile service in factories, responding to perceived socialistic threats, particularly in 1848 and 1919. The ability of the public school system to defend and appropriate resources resulted in a gradual creep that captured the middle classes in the same system, and it is still able to convince society that all failures of education can be addressed in essentially the same way: more education and more resources for education. |
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| > All of these [seven] lessons are prime training for permanent underclasses[.] ---p16 | > All of these [seven] lessons are prime training for permanent underclasses[.] ---p16 |
| ===== II ===== | ===== II ===== |
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| The current American implementation of public schooling was invented in Massachusetts in 1850, and could only be implemented by force. At that point, literacy in Massachusetts stood at 98 per cent; at no time since has it risen above 91 per cent. One and a half million children are now homeschooled in the US; in their ability to think they are between five and ten years ahead of their public school counterparts.((Statistics on historical literacy are "claims" made by the office of Senator Ted Kennedy (D--MA, 1962--2009). Comparison of homeschooled/publicly schooled children was "reported" by the "educational press".) | The current American implementation of public schooling was invented in Massachusetts in 1850, and could only be implemented by force. At that point, literacy in Massachusetts stood at 98 per cent; at no time since has it risen above 91 per cent. One and a half million children are now homeschooled in the US; in their ability to think they are between five and ten years ahead of their public school counterparts.((Statistics on historical literacy are "claims" made by the office of Senator Ted Kennedy (D--MA, 1962--2009). Comparison of homeschooled/publicly schooled children was "reported" by the "educational press".)) |
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| ===== III ===== | ===== III ===== |
| > Two institutions at present control our children's lives: television and schooling, in that order. ---p25 | > Two institutions at present control our children's lives: television and schooling, in that order. ---p25 |
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| ^Activity ^ Time (hours) ^^ | ^Activity ^ Time (hours) ^^ |
| |weekly total | 168 || | |weekly total | 168 || |
| |of which: ||| | |of which: ||| |
| |sleep | 56 || | |sleep | 56 || |
| |television | 55 || | |television | 55 || |
| |school | 30 | 45 | | |school | 30 | 45 | |
| |preparation and travel | 8 | ::: | | |preparation and travel | 8 | ::: | |
| |homework | 7 | ::: | | |homework | 7 | ::: | |
| |eating | 3 || | |eating | 3 || |
| |**remaining time** | **9** || | |**remaining time** | **9** || |
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| These dominant influences create dependency and there is no remaining time to enable children to learn any degree of self-reliance. | These dominant influences create dependency and there is no remaining time to enable children to learn any degree of self-reliance. |
| History provides rich lessons on how to educate children better. For thousands of years, European elites have based their children's education on placing children alone in an unguided setting with a challenge to solve. This approach works well for all children. | History provides rich lessons on how to educate children better. For thousands of years, European elites have based their children's education on placing children alone in an unguided setting with a challenge to solve. This approach works well for all children. |
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| > the problem is fraught with great risks, such as the problem of galloping a horse or making it jump, but that, or course, is a problem successfully solved by thousands of elite children before the age of ten. Can you imagine anyone who had mastered such a challenge ever lacking confidence in his ability to do anything? ---p30 | > Sometimes the problem is fraught with great risks, such as the problem of galloping a horse or making it jump, but that, or course, is a problem successfully solved by thousands of elite children before the age of ten. Can you imagine anyone who had mastered such a challenge ever lacking confidence in his ability to do anything? ---p30 |
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| School denies children opportunities to develop self-knowledge. Reform must give that time back. And it must involve them with the real world so that their independent time can be spent on things that are not abstract. | School denies children opportunities to develop self-knowledge. Reform must give that time back. And it must involve them with the real world so that their independent time can be spent on things that are not abstract. |
| - **Networks** are a more recent human invention. They are systems of interconnected people designed //for a purpose//. Interaction between members is defined by that purpose and is partial --- people play a network-specific role when interacting with other members. Examples include workplaces, professional associations, armies, hospitals and universities. Networks provide efficient means of accomplishing rational tasks, but provide negligible emotional support. "It is a puzzling development, as yet poorly understood, that the 'caring' in networks is in some important way feigned. Not maliciously, but in spite of any genuine emotional attractions that might be there, human behaviour in network situations often resembles a dramatic act".((p50.)) They also tend to externalise their problems, since a network can always be defined in such a way that any problem is not its responsibility. | - **Networks** are a more recent human invention. They are systems of interconnected people designed //for a purpose//. Interaction between members is defined by that purpose and is partial --- people play a network-specific role when interacting with other members. Examples include workplaces, professional associations, armies, hospitals and universities. Networks provide efficient means of accomplishing rational tasks, but provide negligible emotional support. "It is a puzzling development, as yet poorly understood, that the 'caring' in networks is in some important way feigned. Not maliciously, but in spite of any genuine emotional attractions that might be there, human behaviour in network situations often resembles a dramatic act".((p50.)) They also tend to externalise their problems, since a network can always be defined in such a way that any problem is not its responsibility. |
| - **Institutions** can be seen as nothing more than a formalised network (whereas networks can be informal). Institutions are often established for a defined purpose, but they invariably have a higher priority: self-perpetuation at best and more commonly self-aggrandisement. | - **Institutions** can be seen as nothing more than a formalised network (whereas networks can be informal). Institutions are often established for a defined purpose, but they invariably have a higher priority: self-perpetuation at best and more commonly self-aggrandisement. |
| - **Pseudo-communities** are networks that masquerade as communities by trying or pretending to offer the emotional support provided by a community. They always fail spectacularly. Networks are lest dangerous when they are honest about their limitations. Public schools are pseudo-communities. "A pseudo-community is just a different kind of network: its friendships and localities are transient; its problems are universally considered to be someone else's problems (someone else who should be paid to solve them); its young and old are largely regarded as annoyances; and the most commonly shared dream is to get out to a better place, to 'trade up' endlessly."((p62--3.) | - **Pseudo-communities** are networks that masquerade as communities by trying or pretending to offer the emotional support provided by a community. They always fail spectacularly. Networks are least dangerous when they are honest about their limitations. Public schools are pseudo-communities. "A pseudo-community is just a different kind of network: its friendships and localities are transient; its problems are universally considered to be someone else's problems (someone else who should be //paid// to solve them); its young and old are largely regarded as annoyances; and the most commonly shared dream is to get out to a better place, to 'trade up' endlessly."((p62--3, emphasis original.)) |
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| ===== I ===== | ===== I ===== |
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| Networks can be useful as means to accomplish economic tasks, but communities are essential for normal human development and for personal happiness. Without communities, people are lonely. Yet strong communities require members to be personally developed --- people that have spent or are spending enough time alone to have grown or be growing to become rounded human beings. There is a great danger in being fooled that a range of networks can move in to replace a community. They cannot. No matter how many networks a person belongs to, he or she will be lonely without a community. | Networks can be useful as means to accomplish economic tasks, but communities are essential for normal human development and for personal happiness. Without communities, people are lonely. Yet strong communities require members to be personally developed --- people that have spent (or are spending) enough time alone to have grown (or be growing) to become rounded human beings. There is a great danger in being fooled that a range of networks can move in to replace a community. They cannot. No matter how many networks a person belongs to, he or she will be lonely without a community. |
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| ===== II ===== | ===== II ===== |
| ===== IV ===== | ===== IV ===== |
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| Institutions invariably protect their own interests over and above the goals for which they are created. Educational institutions are no exception. | Institutions invariably protect their own interests over and above the goals for which they are created. Educational institutions are no exception. |
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| > It was this philistine potential --- that teaching the young //for pay// would inevitably expand into an institution for the protection of teachers, not students --- that made Socrates condemn the Sophists so strongly long ago in ancient Greece. | > It was this philistine potential --- that teaching the young //for pay// would inevitably expand into an institution for the protection of teachers, not students --- that made Socrates condemn the Sophists so strongly long ago in ancient Greece. |
| Communities are self-limiting, whereas institutions can expand indefinitely, and probably will unless checked from outside. | Communities are self-limiting, whereas institutions can expand indefinitely, and probably will unless checked from outside. |
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| Competition can be a positive force in businesses, leading to better outcomes for customers, but it is wholly damaging in schools, because it is not possible to systematically measure anything meaningful. Competition between students amounts to a fight for a teacher's favours, and these are at best rather arbitrary: this competition "gives rise to envy, dissatisfaction, and a belief in magic."((pp3.)) Teachers competition amongst themselves for resources dispensed by administrators is at best arbitrary; at worst, these resources are "hostages to obedience, deference, and subordination".((pp63--4.) | Competition can be a positive force in businesses, leading to better outcomes for customers, but it is wholly damaging in schools, because it is not possible to systematically measure anything meaningful. Competition between students amounts to a fight for a teacher's favours, and these are at best rather arbitrary: this competition "gives rise to envy, dissatisfaction, and a belief in magic."((pp3.)) Teachers competition amongst themselves for resources dispensed by administrators is at best arbitrary; at worst, these resources are "hostages to obedience, deference, and subordination".((pp63--4.)) |
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| Truth also separates communities from networks --- communities can tell if you are lying, whereas networks can't. The result is that many networks reward and therefore encourage lying. | Truth also separates communities from networks --- communities can tell if you are lying, whereas networks can't. The result is that many networks reward and therefore encourage lying. |
| > The predicament of women is a little trickier to see, but if sharply accelerated rates of suicide, heart disease, emotional illness, sterility, and other pathological conditions are an indicator, the admission of women //en masse// to the unisex workplace is not an unmixed blessing... | > The predicament of women is a little trickier to see, but if sharply accelerated rates of suicide, heart disease, emotional illness, sterility, and other pathological conditions are an indicator, the admission of women //en masse// to the unisex workplace is not an unmixed blessing... |
| > | > |
| > [T]he income of working //couples// in 1990 has only slightly more purchasing power than the income of the average working man did in 1910.((According to "some disturbing evidence [that] exists". No other citation is given for any part of this section.)) ---pp83-4, emphasis original | > [T]he income of working //couples// in 1990 has only slightly more purchasing power than the income of the average working man did in 1910.((According to "some disturbing evidence [that] exists". No other citation is given for any part of this section.)) ---pp83--4, emphasis original |
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| Centralised authority has also failed to control the abuse of drugs, alcohol and pornography. | Centralised authority has also failed to control the abuse of drugs, alcohol and pornography. |
