The Mandatory Schooling System

The mandatory schooling system is a topic that sparks a lot of debate. Some say that there isn’t a problem with it and others think that there is. In John Taylor Gatto’s essay “How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why” he talks about the problems that he sees in the mandatory schooling system by using narratives and history within a different type of structure. The problem with mandatory schooling is that it allows kids to grow up and become childish and immature adults. The structure that Gatto uses in his essay is that he draws you in by talking about boredom then moves toward his thesis near the end. In the beginning he says, “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers, and anyone who has spent time in a teachers’ lounge can vouch for the low energy, the whining, the dispirited attitudes, to be found there.” (42). Drawing you in by talking about something everyone can relate to, the boredom in school. Then he moves to asking if schools are even necessary. He says, “Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years.” (43). Saying that the education each person gets is what really matters. After that he moves on describing the real purpose of the schooling system. He goes on to say, “Inglis breaks down the purpose-the actual purpose-of modem schooling into six basic functions” (45). In which those functions basically tell you that the school system is primarily there to separate kids by promoting the smart and good kids with good grades and praise, while lowering the not so smart and trouble making kids with lower grades and detention. Finally towards the end he starts to make his thesis and offers up his own solution to mandatory schooling and education. He says, “The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.” (49). Pretty much saying that we should let kids manage their own education because there is no telling what they

Cited: Gatto, John. “How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why.” Conversations Readings for Writing. Glenview, IL: Pearson Education, Inc. 2012. 41-49. Print.