MadTeach

MadTeach got its name because I used to teach in Madison, WI, and that used to make me pretty mad...now I teach in a large city... totally different scene... but I'm keeping the name. :-)

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Monday, January 31, 2005

book & article responses

One of the things I wanted to do on this blog was post ideas I get from reading stuff. It takes discipline to produce good summaries & reviews, so that's not really my goal; just "responses," where I read something and then babble a bit (oh joy!, you're thinking...) To that end, here are a few. When I get a good number, I'm going to make index pages etc. so that you can look at specific topics. Ambitious, eh? Well, anyway, here goes...

posted by birdfarm @ 4:57 PM

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(the ten posts prior to this one)

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The Scariest Thing You'll Ever Read
"From the Land of Frankenstein"

John Taylor Gatto explains the origins of the US school system:

"The Prussian mind...held a clear idea of what centralized schooling should deliver: 1) Obedient soldiers to the army; 2) Obedient workers for mines, factories, and farms; 3) Well-subordinated civil servants, trained in their function; 4) Well-subordinated clerks for industry; 5) Citizens who thought alike on most issues; 6) National uniformity in thought, word, and deed.

"The area of individual volition for commoners was severely foreclosed by Prussian psychological training procedures drawn from the experience of animal husbandry and equestrian training, and also taken from past military experience.

"Prussian schools delivered everything they promised. Every important matter could now be confidently worked out in advance by leading families and institutional heads because well-schooled masses would concur with a minimum of opposition."

--John Taylor Gatto
"The Underground History of American Education"
Chapter Seven

So that's why our school system is the way it is... why we are the way we are.

Now that you know...act to RESIST and TRANSFORM this system that keeps us gullible, obedient, and ignorant.

¡Si se puede!

I'm a new teacher (social studies 6-12), committed to anti-racist, multicultural, and fully inclusive education; also a traveller, materialist historian, political activist, former grad student, and occasional gardener.

Visit my profile page for more info...

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Rethinking Schools
Teaching Tolerance
National Association for Multicultural Education
Teaching for Change
Teachers' Union Reform Network
Coalition of Essential Schools
GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)
United for a Fair Economy (includes teaching resources)
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative - support local stores instead of chains!

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