The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders.

The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders.

John Taylor Gatto

No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way.

No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way.

I realized if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change enough communities you can change the world.

I realized if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change enough communities you can change the world.

It's been a horrifying academic secret for decades that the children who walk away with the highest formal honors, the valedictorians and National Merit Scholars, have a horrendous performance record in later life.

It's been a horrifying academic secret for decades that the children who walk away with the highest formal honors, the valedictorians and National Merit Scholars, have a horrendous performance record in later life.

Teaching is a function, not a profession. Anything with something to offer can teach.

Teaching is a function, not a profession. Anything with something to offer can teach.

The economy schoolchildren currently expect to live under and serve would not survive a generation of young people trained to think critically.

The economy schoolchildren currently expect to live under and serve would not survive a generation of young people trained to think critically.

I urge you to examine in your own mind the assumptions which must lay behind using the police power to insist that once-sovereign spirits have no choice but to submit to being schooled by strangers.

I urge you to examine in your own mind the assumptions which must lay behind using the police power to insist that once-sovereign spirits have no choice but to submit to being schooled by strangers.

School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned.

School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned.

The premise upon which mass compulsion schooling is based is dead wrong. It tries to shoehorn every style, culture, and personality into one ugly boot that fits nobody.

The premise upon which mass compulsion schooling is based is dead wrong. It tries to shoehorn every style, culture, and personality into one ugly boot that fits nobody.

Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid.

Schools teach exactly what they are intended to teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid.

Self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge.

Self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge.

Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist.

Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist.

Our cultural dilemma has nothing to do with children who don't read very well. It lies instead in the difficulty of finding a way to restore meaning and purpose to modern life.

Our cultural dilemma has nothing to do with children who don't read very well. It lies instead in the difficulty of finding a way to restore meaning and purpose to modern life.

You need experience, adventure, and explorations more than you need algebra!

You need experience, adventure, and explorations more than you need algebra!

Schools stifle family originality by appropriating the critical time needed for any sound idea of family to develop - then they blame the family for its failure to be a family.

Schools stifle family originality by appropriating the critical time needed for any sound idea of family to develop - then they blame the family for its failure to be a family.

Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a schoolteacher?

Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a schoolteacher?

Who besides a degraded rabble would voluntarily present itself to be graded and classified like meat? No wonder school is compulsory.

Who besides a degraded rabble would voluntarily present itself to be graded and classified like meat? No wonder school is compulsory.

What's gotten in the way of education in the United States is a theory of social engineering that says there is ONE RIGHT WAY to proceed with growing up.

What's gotten in the way of education in the United States is a theory of social engineering that says there is ONE RIGHT WAY to proceed with growing up.

Anyone who is more interested in human beings than in the rules is a threat to the system.

Anyone who is more interested in human beings than in the rules is a threat to the system.