What Is Gatto's View Of The Education System?

The education system, as we know it, is failing. The system is faced with a slew of complications that could be resolved, but it does not appear as if change is on the horizon. Children are not being taught in a way that could help them think critically and become leaders in this world. Many people displayed their displeasure with the system and various authors, philosophers, etc. wrote articles on the situation. Bertrand Russell and John Taylor Gatto both wrote articles discussing how the system is unsuccessful, and how it can become better. Their articles had many opinions and ideas that were similar, but they also had some differences. The similarities and differences between Russell and Gatto's ideas about education demonstrate the problems
They both believed that children should be able to have more of an open mind while at school. In their minds, children are not receiving the education needed to become leaders and think independently. Students have never been taught to review a subject and make an opinion on what they thought really happened. The education system we have only displays the point of view that they thought was right, and demand that students learn it that way. Many students do not reach higher skilled occupations because they are trained to become employees rather than employers. According to Gatto, "Mandatory education serves children only incidentally; it's real purpose is to turn them into servants"(615). Children should have the right to have view different matters from their own perspective, but the system is forcing
Their views differed on the matter of boredom. Many students become bored with school over time. This is usually caused by the lessons being uninteresting or the teacher being indifferent. The above-mentioned statements are comparable to Russell's beliefs. He thought that children's boredom was caused by disinterest in the subject or the way that it was being instructed. In his essay, Russell stated "The child's attention is wholly spontaneous, as in play; it enjoys acquiring knowledge in this way, and does not acquire any knowledge which it does not desire"(408). He goes on to say "Many things which must be thought about are uninteresting, and even those that are interesting at first often become very wearisome before they have been considered as long as is necessary"(409). Gatto, on the other hand, did not see things in the same matter. While he was a teacher in Manhattan, he would ask the students why they were bored and he would receive answers such as "the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it"(Gatto 608). They were blaming other factors for their boredom and based on his beliefs, Gatto did not agree with that. He was taught by his grandfather at an early age that the only person you should blame for being bored is yourself. He stated "if I was bored it was my fault and no one else's. The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn't know that were childish