MEDITATION ON EDUCATION

Meditation on Education

Introduction

The critique and the idea are generated from the writing The- Seven Lesson School Teacher by John Taylor Gatto. John Gatto retired from his teaching profession. He served nearly 30 years in the classroom as a teacher. He is the author of numerous books on education. John is a serious activist of compulsory schooling. His writings reflect the opinion and assessment about the educational system.

The- Seven Lesson School Teacher is one of his motivational writings. The guidelines in his writing are all about the schooling system. The writing has seven heads of how student's mind slaved. John Gatto has a strong critique on the schooling system and students treated in school. His writing showed the perception of the schooling system that focused or analyzed by few people. Being, a school teacher he analyzed the procedure and polices of school. He is against this system. I would like to emphasize more on this issue by my critique and favor (Gatto, 1991).

Thesis Statement

Schooling For The Sake Of Schooling

Critique

We are surrounded by an imaginary jail that cannot be seen. Our minds are salved and will be kept in prison if we will not give priority to the conventional thinking. We are just blindly following, what our ancestors did. Schools are made to educate students not to make them slaves. Parents blindly believe on schooling system and remain satisfied without knowing what can go wrong with their child if he/she is little aggressive or weak in education.

“' School teachers are not allowed to do what they think best for each child. Harnessed to a collective regime, they give up thinking seriously about students as a one-of kind individuals regardless of what they may wish were true” (Gatto, 2002).

Schools need to focus on individual development and training. The first lesson should be ...