Against School John Gatto Analysis

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John Gatto argues against the on-going cycle of compulsory education, in his essay “Against School.” In Joel Stein’s essay “The Newest Greatest Generation,” he discusses characteristics of the millennials that he disapproves of and admires. In the essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr discourses the ways Google is or is not making society stupid. Gatto addresses several of his concerns in his essay both Stein and Carr agrees with him Gatto’s argument against compulsory education in their essays. To begin, there are several concepts about compulsory education that aggravates John Gatto and he explains his concerns in his essay “Against School.” Gatto’s first concern is everything is about school is boring. “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers (Gatto 608).” If the teachers are bored, they will create a dull and boring environment for the students. “Boredom and childishness were the natural state of affairs in the classroom (Gatto 608).” Lack of creativity and freedom is another concern of Gatto. “An educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects (Gatto 611).” Also, Gatto thinks school is unnecessary. “George Washington, Benjamin …show more content…

“Because millennials don’t respect authority, they also don’t resent it (Stein 570).” Also, Stein feels like the millennials like to challenge anything conventional. “So they’ll be more innovative and more willing to try new things (Stein 570).” Millennials like to be creative and try new things, but Gatto feels compulsory schools will not allow students the freedom to do so. “By giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don’t do that (Gatto 609).” Those were a few reasons why Stein agrees with Gatto’s argument against compulsory

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