Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] new book coming out!
Sandra
Wow, check this out. It was sent to me from another loop.
Sandi in VA
http://www.laissezfaire.org/ed8194.cfm#TOP
This book is not yet in stock.
We will be happy to backorder it for you.
Award winning teacher launches new salvo against government schooling
The Underground History of American Education
A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern
Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
(Oxford Village Press, 2000)
ED8194W (paperback) 448p. List Price: $30.00
Our Price: $21.00 You save 30%!
Bookclub members take an additional 10% off!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
reviewed by Jim Powell
Gatto, the fabled New York City Teacher of the Year who made headlines when
he turned against government schooling, reminds the historically minded of
William Lloyd Garrison with his slashing moral attacks against government
schooling.
He denounces it "as a gigantic indoctrination and sorting machine, robbing
people of their children. . . . You aren't compelled to loan your car to
anyone who wants it, but you are compelled to surrender your school age
child to strangers who process children."
"Government schooling kills the family by monopolizing the best times of
childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents." He exposes the
errors of "short-answer tests, bells, uniform time blocks, age grading,
standardization, and all the rest of the school religion." Schools, he says,
"don't need more money or a longer year, they need free-market choices,
variety that speaks to every need."
This book is brilliant. When I finished it I felt like I'd just gone fifteen
rounds with me champ. This book is unlike any other, for my money the best
approach to an understanding of the mythology of public education in America
around.
--Chris Mercogliano, Director, The Albany Free School
Gatto's voice is strong and unique, a Socrates of the educational world.
Don't deny yourself the blood-curdling pleasure of reading this perverse
history of American education as a design for a real life. I loved this
book!
--Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul
I've loved John Gatto's work ever since I first encountered his astounding
essays in The Rerun. This analysis of schooling is presented with daring,
panache, and a humorous passion that leaps off the page. I give this book a
standing ovation! Bravo!
--Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
The emotional effect of Underground History cannot be overstated. It reminds
me of the reporter watching the Hindenburg burst into flames who cried, "Oh,
the humanity!" Gatto is crying here, "Oh, the Children!" This is the most
important education book of my lifetime.
--Michael Farris, President, Home School Legal Defense Association
These pages burn with insight and controversy. You cannot read this book
without changing the way you look at schools.
--Pat Farenga, President, John Holt Associates
Anyone interested in the fate of our schools should make this book a
priority. Gatto's insistence on calling a spade a spade in recognizing the
bases on which modern schooling has been built leaves no doubt that our
well-being requires us to leave behind the concept of institutional
education as a social good.
--Dan Greenberg, co-founder, The Sudbury Valley School
Gatto tells us straight up what's wrong with school in his powerful
trademark blend of passion and hard thinking. Grounded in a careful study of
history, craned out of the context of his own brilliant 30-year teaching
career, this book will validate your own shadowy intuition about schooling.
--Grace Llewelyn, author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook
He paints a scathing picture of caring people's best intentions undermined.
. . . examines the psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, and
politics of modern institutionalized forced schooling, concluding it cannot
be reformed because it is doing exactly what it is designed to do. Don't
miss this inspiring rebel educator.
--The Open Center, New York City
I can honestly say there are few things I've read recently, or probably
ever, that provoked me to exclaim "This is so RIGHT!" with such alarming
regularity.
--Chersteen Anderson, Director, Sisters Under the Skin
Thought-provoking, entertaining, and intelligent. Based on years of reading
education books I was expecting a drowsy read of little or no content. Was I
surprised! Wonderful.
--Judith Current, Teacher, Colorado
In my opinion this is one of the most important books on education ever
written. Gatto takes us on a journey, tracing the development of his own
thinking about government schooling. Here is the whole story, the hidden
agendas, the true believers, the dumbing down. If you care at all about
children, you'll be livid as you read.
--Cathy Duly, THE LINK
A breathtaking work of scholarship and encyclopedic scope . . . history
accompanied by an incisive and illuminating narrative. Gatto delivers for
our consideration an astonishing cast of cranks while revealing the nest of
special interests which profit from schools just as they are. This marvelous
book should be required reading for anyone interested in the frightening
truth about the enterprise we call "education."
--Adam Robinson, author, What Smart Students Know
Gatto addresses the deadening heart of compulsory schooling with its
assumptions and structures which stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity,
concentration, and solitude which are essential to learning. He speaks of
the contradiction between human purpose and abstract state purpose, giving
examples of what can happen when the everyday genius of ordinary people is
allowed to develop.
--Human Scale Education Annual Conference, London
The most important book on education I have ever read. It will open your
eyes and, God willing, change your children's lives.
--Mary Pride, author, The Big Book of Home Learning
Sandi in VA
http://www.laissezfaire.org/ed8194.cfm#TOP
This book is not yet in stock.
We will be happy to backorder it for you.
Award winning teacher launches new salvo against government schooling
The Underground History of American Education
A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern
Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
(Oxford Village Press, 2000)
ED8194W (paperback) 448p. List Price: $30.00
Our Price: $21.00 You save 30%!
Bookclub members take an additional 10% off!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
reviewed by Jim Powell
Gatto, the fabled New York City Teacher of the Year who made headlines when
he turned against government schooling, reminds the historically minded of
William Lloyd Garrison with his slashing moral attacks against government
schooling.
He denounces it "as a gigantic indoctrination and sorting machine, robbing
people of their children. . . . You aren't compelled to loan your car to
anyone who wants it, but you are compelled to surrender your school age
child to strangers who process children."
"Government schooling kills the family by monopolizing the best times of
childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents." He exposes the
errors of "short-answer tests, bells, uniform time blocks, age grading,
standardization, and all the rest of the school religion." Schools, he says,
"don't need more money or a longer year, they need free-market choices,
variety that speaks to every need."
This book is brilliant. When I finished it I felt like I'd just gone fifteen
rounds with me champ. This book is unlike any other, for my money the best
approach to an understanding of the mythology of public education in America
around.
--Chris Mercogliano, Director, The Albany Free School
Gatto's voice is strong and unique, a Socrates of the educational world.
Don't deny yourself the blood-curdling pleasure of reading this perverse
history of American education as a design for a real life. I loved this
book!
--Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul
I've loved John Gatto's work ever since I first encountered his astounding
essays in The Rerun. This analysis of schooling is presented with daring,
panache, and a humorous passion that leaps off the page. I give this book a
standing ovation! Bravo!
--Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
The emotional effect of Underground History cannot be overstated. It reminds
me of the reporter watching the Hindenburg burst into flames who cried, "Oh,
the humanity!" Gatto is crying here, "Oh, the Children!" This is the most
important education book of my lifetime.
--Michael Farris, President, Home School Legal Defense Association
These pages burn with insight and controversy. You cannot read this book
without changing the way you look at schools.
--Pat Farenga, President, John Holt Associates
Anyone interested in the fate of our schools should make this book a
priority. Gatto's insistence on calling a spade a spade in recognizing the
bases on which modern schooling has been built leaves no doubt that our
well-being requires us to leave behind the concept of institutional
education as a social good.
--Dan Greenberg, co-founder, The Sudbury Valley School
Gatto tells us straight up what's wrong with school in his powerful
trademark blend of passion and hard thinking. Grounded in a careful study of
history, craned out of the context of his own brilliant 30-year teaching
career, this book will validate your own shadowy intuition about schooling.
--Grace Llewelyn, author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook
He paints a scathing picture of caring people's best intentions undermined.
. . . examines the psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, and
politics of modern institutionalized forced schooling, concluding it cannot
be reformed because it is doing exactly what it is designed to do. Don't
miss this inspiring rebel educator.
--The Open Center, New York City
I can honestly say there are few things I've read recently, or probably
ever, that provoked me to exclaim "This is so RIGHT!" with such alarming
regularity.
--Chersteen Anderson, Director, Sisters Under the Skin
Thought-provoking, entertaining, and intelligent. Based on years of reading
education books I was expecting a drowsy read of little or no content. Was I
surprised! Wonderful.
--Judith Current, Teacher, Colorado
In my opinion this is one of the most important books on education ever
written. Gatto takes us on a journey, tracing the development of his own
thinking about government schooling. Here is the whole story, the hidden
agendas, the true believers, the dumbing down. If you care at all about
children, you'll be livid as you read.
--Cathy Duly, THE LINK
A breathtaking work of scholarship and encyclopedic scope . . . history
accompanied by an incisive and illuminating narrative. Gatto delivers for
our consideration an astonishing cast of cranks while revealing the nest of
special interests which profit from schools just as they are. This marvelous
book should be required reading for anyone interested in the frightening
truth about the enterprise we call "education."
--Adam Robinson, author, What Smart Students Know
Gatto addresses the deadening heart of compulsory schooling with its
assumptions and structures which stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity,
concentration, and solitude which are essential to learning. He speaks of
the contradiction between human purpose and abstract state purpose, giving
examples of what can happen when the everyday genius of ordinary people is
allowed to develop.
--Human Scale Education Annual Conference, London
The most important book on education I have ever read. It will open your
eyes and, God willing, change your children's lives.
--Mary Pride, author, The Big Book of Home Learning
Billy or Nancy
We got our first shipment in today!
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto: A
Schoolteachers Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling
Our favorite radical education theorist has done it again! Seven years in
the making, over 300,000 words and 412 pages with an extensive index - this
is definitely not a fluff book. John Taylor Gatto is a former New York
City and New York State Teacher of the year. Author of Dumbing Us Down,
Gatto is an advocate of homeschooling.
What do the Prussian military, coal mining companies, the industrial
revolution, and the principles of scientific management have in common?
According to Gatto, they forever changed our early educational practices and
contributed to the creation of our modern American school system, and that
is definitely not a good thing!
George Washington, with no schooling until he was eleven (and then only two
years of school) could handle geometry and trigonometry that would challenge
many college students today. He became the architect of his own estate and
started several successful businesses as a young man. Gatto tells us that
today, No public school in the United States is set up to allow a George
Washington to happen. Washingtons in the bud stage are screened, browbeaten,
or bribed to conform to a narrow outlook on social truth. Boys like Andrew
Carnegie who begged his mother not to send him to school and was well on his
way to immortality and fortune at the age of thirteen would be referred
today for psychological counseling; Thomas Edison would find himself in
Special Ed until his peculiar genius had been tamed.
At times scholarly, at times stream-of-consciousness, and at times
passionate cheerleading, this is a book that will challenge many of your
ideas about education while at the same time confirming many of your
suspicions. I can assure you that as you read this book you may at times
find yourself exclaiming out loud in agreement with what you read, or
muttering disagreements under your breath, but you definitely wont find
yourself bored.
This is an Authors Special Pre-publication Edition. The market first
edition will not be released until January 31, 2001, so get these while they
last! List price is $30, available from FUN Books for $24, item #0040X
www.FUN-Books.com
fun@...
888 386-7020
(Feel free to distribute this review as you see fit as long as it is used in
its entirety)
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto: A
Schoolteachers Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling
Our favorite radical education theorist has done it again! Seven years in
the making, over 300,000 words and 412 pages with an extensive index - this
is definitely not a fluff book. John Taylor Gatto is a former New York
City and New York State Teacher of the year. Author of Dumbing Us Down,
Gatto is an advocate of homeschooling.
What do the Prussian military, coal mining companies, the industrial
revolution, and the principles of scientific management have in common?
According to Gatto, they forever changed our early educational practices and
contributed to the creation of our modern American school system, and that
is definitely not a good thing!
George Washington, with no schooling until he was eleven (and then only two
years of school) could handle geometry and trigonometry that would challenge
many college students today. He became the architect of his own estate and
started several successful businesses as a young man. Gatto tells us that
today, No public school in the United States is set up to allow a George
Washington to happen. Washingtons in the bud stage are screened, browbeaten,
or bribed to conform to a narrow outlook on social truth. Boys like Andrew
Carnegie who begged his mother not to send him to school and was well on his
way to immortality and fortune at the age of thirteen would be referred
today for psychological counseling; Thomas Edison would find himself in
Special Ed until his peculiar genius had been tamed.
At times scholarly, at times stream-of-consciousness, and at times
passionate cheerleading, this is a book that will challenge many of your
ideas about education while at the same time confirming many of your
suspicions. I can assure you that as you read this book you may at times
find yourself exclaiming out loud in agreement with what you read, or
muttering disagreements under your breath, but you definitely wont find
yourself bored.
This is an Authors Special Pre-publication Edition. The market first
edition will not be released until January 31, 2001, so get these while they
last! List price is $30, available from FUN Books for $24, item #0040X
www.FUN-Books.com
fun@...
888 386-7020
(Feel free to distribute this review as you see fit as long as it is used in
its entirety)
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Award winning teacher launches new salvo against government schooling
> The Underground History of American Education
> A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern
> Schooling
> by John Taylor Gatto
> (Oxford Village Press, 2000)