The Seven Lessons of Public Schools

Who you really are has probably been lost in in the hallowed halls and classrooms of elementry, secondary and post secondary schooling. Rediscovering who you really are is part of the journey. Looking back to see the methods of change that were employed to get you to be something other thatn your true self may make you mad.

At the same time understanding the obstacles placed in your way can help you overcome them, or just go around them.

As taught by John taylor Gatto, here are the real leasons being taught daily, by repetition, in classrooms everywhere. When you read them they probably make perfect sense to you. To read the full, expanded explanation of each lesson go to: http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/SevenLessonsTaughtInSchool

The seven lessons of schoolteaching:

confusion

class position

indifference

emotional and intellectual dependency

conditional self-esteem

surveillance

All of these things are prime training for permanent underclasses, people deprived forever of finding the center of their own special genius. And over time this training has shaken loose from its own original logic: to regulate the poor. For since the 1920s the growth of the school bureaucracy, and the less visible growth of a horde of industries that profit from schooling exactly as it is, has enlarged this institution’s original grasp to the point that it now seizes the sons and daughters of the middle classes as well.

Is it any wonder Socrates was outraged at the accusation that he took money to teach? Even then, philosophers saw clearly the inevitable direction the professionalization of teaching would take, preempting the teaching function, which belongs to everyone in a healthy community.

With lessons like the ones I teach day after day it should be little wonder we have a real national crisis, the nature of which is very different from that proclaimed by the national media. Young people are indifferent to the adult world and to the future, indifferent to almost everything except the diversion of toys and violence. Rich or poor,

schoolchildren who face the twenty-first century cannot concentrate on anything for very long; they have a poor sense of time past and time to come. They are mistrustful of intimacy like the children of divorce they really are (for we have divorced them from significant parental attention); they hate solitude, are cruel, materialistic, dependent, passive, violent, timid in the face of the unexpected, addicted to distraction.

The above 7 lessons make for a compliant and profitable consumer population. Did you learn your lessons well?

The elites send their kids to private schools. Maybe there is a good reason? Ya think? 😉 Here’e the 14 principles that the elites learn in private school. Do you think they are more prepared to be independent and leaders?

Here’s the bullet list and the video below John goes into the private school lessons taught:

Private schools teach these 14 principals universally:

no one could graduate without a theory of human nature, which comes from history, philosophy, law, literature and theology. these have a wealth of information of how human beings are right now, have been and will always be
every graduate will have a strong experience with the act of literacies, that is writing and public speaking. Unless you can write and speak well you cannot convince anyone both skills are extremely easy to learn (skill in the act of literacies)
insight into the major institutional forms, like courts, corporations, military and details of the ideas which drives them – division of powers
repeated exercises of good manners and politeness on which all future relationships or alliances are based on
independent work, the students are expected to do the work
energetic physical sports are the only way to confer grace on the human presence which translates into power and money later on
complete theory of access to any workplace or any person
responsibility is an essential condition, always grab for it
arrival at a personal code of standards, in production, behaviour and morality
familiarity with the arts, which, a part from religion, it is the only way to transcend the materiality of our lives
power of accurate observation and recording, to sharpen the perception
ability to deal with challenges of all sort
habit of caution in reasoning to conclusions
constant development and testing of judgement