Gatto literally is saying that our school system is based on teaching kids how to be managed. We make kids grow up in a school system where they cannot manage themselves and in order to be a successful person you have to go through this entire process and way of learning. He describes how that way of schooling is faulty. He goes on to explain how many of the most successful well known people in history had really no education yet they were some of the smartest people in history such as, "...George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, [and] Abraham Lincoln...." With this school system, they push kids in a certain direction really based on a country that no longer exists. This school system is creating students who can't help themselves and really, they need to be told what to do now due to this education system.
2. Why is Gatto saying this? How is he saying it? What does it mean that he says this and not that?
I believe Gatto wrote this because he wants to educate people on how the schooling system is really funneling us into this way of needing to take orders from people in a higher command. He goes on to give us an example in the way of technology. We buy TV's, and that leads to buying more materialistic items. When we buy computers, we see items on the computer that we need to buy. We always are being pushed into directions because we are taught in our scholastic upbringing that we need to be told what to do/buy.
I don't quite understand the last question so I'm going to just leave my response by answering the first two parts of the questions.
3. What do I think about what he's saying? What does it remind me of?
I think he has some valid points, yet I don't know if everything he is saying is quite that drastic. I believe that most people, at least in my experience of school, have minds of their own. In the TED talk video we had watched, it talks about how it is really trying to create people who are really focused on the mind, and one side of the brain, yet we all still have a say of what we do, and can manage ourselves. So I agree and disagree. At that degree yes, public education is doing this to us, pushing us in a direction that will make us have certain jobs and once again do certain things. Yet, we still have choices we can make, we aren't robots.
4. What rhetorical strategies is Gatto using here? What forms of "appeal" is he using?
Gatto uses ethos in the beginning describing his experience in the school system as a teacher as a testament to his argument. He doesn't really ever use pathos in this piece. He mainly focuses on logos and facts that are backing up his argument. He uses facts to keep his argument solid for example the facts about the lack of schooling for George Washington, ect., were there to back up his story. Logos was the key rhetorical strategy he used.
Hi, we had similar ideas on the essay so I thought I'd respond. You never out right said the words "conspiracy theory" but that sounds like what you think of some of Gatto's more drastic ideas. In your writing itself I think you could use more personal reasoning or maybe anecdotes to make it more interesting. I guess it is supposed to be analytic, but it is just slightly dry to read. Also in question four if you look for statements that cause emotion, mainly anger, you'll find a lot of pathos. Like how Ms. Feller took offense to some of the statements because she is in education. I'm sure one of those being "...children are to be sorted and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits." As a teacher that would elicit a response in some way. Any statements like that could be considered pathos. Hope I helped!
ReplyDeleteLike Brett, I also have similar thoughts about Gatto's essay. I really like how you summarized the essay as saying schools teach students "how to be managed". I think that is spot on and Gatto portrays this as a bad thing. Although, similarly to what you previously said, even though schools do push us in a direction, we are not devoid of choice as individuals. "We are not robots." If nothing else, it is a student's parents more than anything else that urges kids who are uninterested in the standardized curriculum to stay in classes. Yes, there is a set curriculum but there are also outlets at almost all schools in the US today for other areas of interest.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I would challenge Gatto's idea that teaching kids to be managed is a bad thing. The world could not run properly if everyone was a CEO. In our capitalist society everyone cannot be their own boss. I would argue that in lots of cases, a person's personal best could be achieved by working efficiently under someone who is of higher intellect or more talented in that area of expertise than they are. Not everyone is Bill Gates. A population is not equal in every way. Therefore, being effectively managed to promote a common goal can and probably is the highest performance level that many people can reach.