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Weapons of Mass Instruction

A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

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Weapons of Mass Instruction

By: John Taylor Gatto
Narrated by: Michael Puttonen
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About this listen

John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction focuses on mechanisms of traditional education which cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Weapons of Mass Instruction adds another chilling metaphor to the brief against conventional schooling.

Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be conditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence.

Escaping this trap requires a strategy Gatto calls "open source learning" which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach our children can avoid being indoctrinated-only then can they achieve self-knowledge, good judgment, and courage.

©2009 John Taylor Gatto (P)2012 Post Hypnotic Press Inc. Education Elections & Political Process Politics & Government Relationships Social Sciences Childhood Education Capitalism

Critic Reviews

"John Taylor Gatto has been a hero of mine for years. He has the courage to challenge an education system that is obsolete and out of touch with reality. Years ago, he gave me the courage to speak out and write my books. I trust this book will give you the courage to speak out." (Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad)
"For over 20 years John Taylor Gatto has been working tirelessly to teach us the truth about our education system - that compulsory schooling does not work to foster a democratic way of life!" (Mary Leue, Founder of the Albany Free School)
"All of Gatto's words shine. Let's have Gatto as US Secretary of Education and then, this time, he can blow it all up!" (George Meegan, author of The Longest Walk and world record holder, longest unbroken march in human history)
All stars
Most relevant  
Few people would disagree that the school system is flawed; very few people would believe that it's inheritantly designed to be this way. Compulsory schooling, first introduced about 200 years ago by elitists in Northern Prussia, works to undermine everything in a child that school educators claims it nurtures: literacy rates, creativity, and independent, critical thought. The system worked so effectively, that powerful elitists in other nations such as America felt the need to import and impose this systematic methodology onto the masses of their own nations, with great resistance, of course. Among many sinister purposes, the systematic dumbing down of children ensures minimum entrepreneurship to challenge the large corporations, while increasing boredom to maximise addiction to consumerism.

Gatto wrote in an open letter before his resignation as teacher that he no longer wanted to hurt kids. I've also arrived at the same moral dilemma. I resigned from school teaching 2 days ago, with nothing solidly planned for what comes next. This book is also having me rethink any plan to retrain at university, as universities are inherently flawed themselves with a similar methodology.

I've resigned school teaching thanks to Gatto.

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An absolute must listen to if your kids are at school. Would be hard to not pull them out after this!!

Mind blowing

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Glad to of listened to this book before my child has reached school age. Has inspired my to research into Home-schooling.

Life Changing!

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I was always the top straight A student at school and got top honours at the best university in my country, and yet felt there is something seriously wrong with the system. Gatto explained it all in this book, which has steeled my resolve to homeschool our children so they can be truly educated and free.

Must read for all parents

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Not often do you stumble on a book when you're at the perfect crossroad of compulsory schooling for your little ones or something else.... But what else is there?
This book confirms exactly how I have been feeling about the school system but have never been able to articulate these feelings. What a grand journey JTG took me over the past few days! Thank you for this, couldn't reccomend enough for parents, teenagers, grandparents, caregivers, teachers or anyone intrigued to know what the view is from the inside.

Perfect timing

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Not since On Walden Pond have I heard a work of such depth and looking at the stars for future generations.

Outstanding

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