The underground history of American education A schoolteacher's intimate investigation into the prison of modern schooling

Gathering a collection of materials that highlight public education, Gatto (Dumbing Us Down) analyzes why mass-compulsion schooling is unreformable. Having taught in a Manhattan school district from 1961 to 1991, Gatto speaks from experience when offering this speculative history cum personal investigation. His discussion is passionate but far from scholarly (there are a very few footnotes for further study). At first it seems ironic that a former New York Teacher of the Year (1991) can be so adamant in his criticism of American education. However, the reader comes to recognize that despite his sometimes obscure thoughts he makes a compelling case. Arguing that public schools allow "psychic violence," teach numbness, and force the deterioration of parental responsibilities, Gatto advocates that children spend less time in school and more with their family and in meaningful pursuits in their community. He offers many helpful suggestions, but they are not immediately decipherable, as they are, to use the author's own words, "perversely sprinkled around like raisins in a pudding." This is a brutally honest argument that all administrators and legislators involved in schooling should read. Recommended for most libraries.DLeroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach P.L. Dist., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.