I'm trying to read all the books that somehow ended up on my wish list on Amazon. Some of them have been on there over a year. Frankly I'm not sure how others, like Weapons of Mass Instruction, ended up on there. But I decided to give it a shot.
John Taylor Gatto taught for nearly 30 years in New York City. He was named teacher of the year late in his career, and then quit because he had finally had enough of the school system. He has some radical takes on schooling. His main point his schools do not truly educate students. He spends the entire book trying to support this notion.
While I think some parts of his argument are right (and some parts are out there), I don't think he offers a real solution. The two biggest takeaways were to have students write on their tests "I would prefer not to take your test" or get home schooled. Not sure that is the answer. He says, "You either write your own script, or you become an actor in somebody else's script". Well, if everyone wrote their own script, there would only be monologues.
I will say that the book is filled with a lot of interesting facts. I actually used post it tabs to bookmark a few spots. And he was an English teacher, so the vocabulary is top notch and the grammar is spot on. I think it's good to read books you may not completely agree with. It is good to expand your knowledge on certain topics. Education is one of those topics considering its impact on life and society.
My rating for Weapons of Mass Instruction: 2 stars out of 5. Get it here.
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