Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Education is a business. This became evident to me in college when my professors were all writing textbooks for each other to demand as curriculum and kept writing new versions each year which were exactly the same. The honest professors refused to force us to buy the new version. My daughter graduated high school with no sense of what she enjoyed. She enrolled into college only with the sense she was supposed to go , with no clue what subjects she even wanted to explore. How can she spend a hundred thousand on an education she doesn't even know if she wants. I know very few with a degree in the field they desire. School was ingrained as a must do. She dropped out after two semesters and I'm so proud of her for finally finding her own way. My other four I am homeschooling, all of them have more a sense of these things than they did a few months ago when I pulled them out. They have not vomited, had meltdowns, or migraines since I pulled them out of that place after being urged to not send them there daily. I was so stressed until I read this. I had brought them home only to try to match public school curriculum here- still stressing them. I tucked it away and let them pick. They are making holograms, playing ukulele, taking engineering and youtuber courses and reading history from college level textbooks which provide the narrative and intertwine the stories so they understand what happened and why these events are significant. They are no longer being forced to memorize random arbitrary dates. They aren't being graded or measured or answering with what color they are on (behavior chart) at school when I asked how their day was. We are not simply de schooling, we are rinsing our brains from the brainwashing . I wrote down two goals for my children to start which are self discovery and to self educate of which neither does public school teach. We just want to get the ick off us!!! Critical thinking is a list art. Solitude is a must.

Highly recommend this book for parents on the fence of homeschooling.

Thank you, Mr. Gatto. This book was an eye opener into the strategic way the school system is structured. I actually taught for two years as a high school English teacher and I knew it wasn't for me. This book solidified my decision to leave and I'm happy I did.

Surprised i hadnt found this book sooner, good author, good read

OK, so Gatto had STRONG opinions about the modern US school structures. This book was written in 1992 with a few updates from 2017, so most of the statements apply to NY schools in the 70's, 80's & 90's. Since I went to school then, I did a whole lot of nodding and "you ain't kiddin man" and other Gen X stuff like that. A good chunk of it still applies, BUT:1: Gatto was quite conservative. If that's your jam, you'll love him. If it's not, you'll probably mutter "WT-" a lot.2: Schools have changed in interesting ways since this book was written. I just kept thinking "my Dude, you retired before cell phones and TikTok took over classrooms... you have NO idea..."3: School bullying hasn't exactly gone away, but the manner in which it happens is quite different now than it was then. It's less "stuff you in a locker" and more "incessant and insidious online harassment..." Which is one of the top reasons parents turn to homeschooling now.The book is largely anti-establishment, anti-administration, anti-standardization, anti-teach-to-the-test (heard), and has a lot of nostalgia. Gatto won teaching awards when admin got out of his way. He was a big proponent of self-directed learning. He supported a practical experience-based learning model, and a facilitator-not-teacher model.This book is beloved by the Unschooling community for a lot of good reasons. It is NOT anti-school. It is asking for much-needed school reform, some of which has happened, but not enough to combat the move towards more rigid curriculums and lock-step teaching models of the last 20 years. TBH I'm not sure how valuable it is for people actively homeschooling, IMO most homeschoolers have taken that route for just the reasons Gatto listed here. It was certainly cathartic reading for me. I don't agree with everything he had to say, but that's not necessary for it to be a good book. I do think it's worth a read for parents of kids who are struggling in the highly structured public school system IF they are considering homeschooling. Just keep in mind it is older and things have changed. If nothing else, it's short.

What's to review. It's a book. You're not the author. Fast shipping. Good quality.

MUST READ! This book, while obviously hilarious to say, should be taught in schools! I got this book to learn more about the Prussian model of education. Little did I know this book would take that notion and open my eyes to this methodology throughout the world. As the great samurai Miyamoto Musashi's said, "If you know the way broadly, you will see it in everything." Corporate America, College, and how networks wear the mask of communities. This book will change the way you see the world. A must read.