Thought provoking insights from a veteran award winning teacher who taught 8th graders for 30 years in a particularly challenged part of the New York public school system.
School is like starting life with a 12-year jail sentence in which bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I should know.
Here’s the source: https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
And here are his lessons, verbatim:
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The first lesson I teach is: “Stay in the class where you belong.”
The second lesson I teach kids is to turn on and off like a light switch
The third lesson I teach you is to surrender your will to a predestined chain of command
The fourth lesson I teach is that only I determine what curriculum you will study
In lesson five I teach that your self-respect should depend on an observer’s measure of your worth
In lesson six I teach children that they are being watched
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The whole thing is worth a read and here’s a similar version that you can watch / listen to on YouTube: