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John Taylor Gatto
Gatto in 2009
Born	(1935-12-15)December 15, 1935 Monongahela, Pennsylvania, US
Died	October 25, 2018(2018-10-25) (aged 82) New York City, US
Nationality	American
Other names	John Gatto
Education	Cornell University University of Pittsburgh Yeshiva University Hunter College Reed College University of California, Berkeley
Occupations	Author Speaker Teacher
Known for	Educational activist Scholar New York State Teacher of the Year
Spouse	Janet Gatto
Website	www.johntaylorgatto.com

John Taylor Gatto^[1] (December 15, 1935^[2] – October 25, 2018) was an American author and school teacher. After teaching for nearly 30 years he authored several books on modern education, criticizing its ideology, history, and consequences. He is best known for his books Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, and The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher’s Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling, which is sometimes considered to be his magnum opus.

He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991.^[3]

Gatto was born to Andrew Michael Mario and Frances Virginia (née Zimmer) Gatto in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, a steel town near Pittsburgh. In his youth he attended public schools throughout the Pittsburgh Metro Area including Swissvale, Monongahela, and Uniontown as well as a Catholic boarding school in Latrobe. He did undergraduate work at Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia, then served in the U.S. Army medical corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Following army service he did graduate work at the City University of New York, Hunter College, Yeshiva University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Cornell.

He worked as a writer and held several odd jobs before borrowing his roommate's license to investigate teaching. Gatto also ran for the New York State Senate, 29th District in 1985 and 1988 as a member of the Conservative Party of New York against incumbent David Paterson.^[4] He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991.^[3] In 1991, he wrote a letter announcing his retirement, titled I Quit, I Think,^[5] to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, saying that he no longer wished to "hurt kids to make a living." He then began a public speaking and writing career, and has received several awards from libertarian organizations, including the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Excellence in Advancement of Educational Freedom in 1997.^[6]

Gatto promoted homeschooling, and specifically unschooling and open source learning. Wade A. Carpenter, associate professor of education at Berry College, has called his books "scathing" and "one-sided and hyperbolic, [but] not inaccurate"^[7] and describes himself as in agreement with Gatto.^[8]

Gatto was featured in the 2011 documentary film, IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America.

In 2011, Gatto had two major strokes which occurred after he completed the filming of The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto^[9] which was released in early 2012 by Tragedy and Hope Communications.^[10]

Gatto asserts the following regarding what school does to children in Dumbing Us Down:

1. It confuses the students. It presents an incoherent ensemble of information that the child needs to memorize to stay in school. Apart from the tests and trials, this programming is similar to the television; it fills almost all the "free" time of children. One sees and hears something, only to forget it again.
2. It teaches them to accept their class affiliation.
3. It makes them indifferent.
4. It makes them emotionally dependent.
5. It makes them intellectually dependent.
6. It teaches them a kind of self-confidence that requires constant confirmation by experts (provisional self-esteem).
7. It makes it clear to them that they cannot hide, because they are always supervised.^[11]

He also draws a contrast between communities and “networks,” with the former being healthy, and schools being examples of the latter. He says networks have become an unhealthy substitute for community in the United States.^[12]

An article published online by the Foundation for Economic Education described John Taylor Gatto as having mentored "millions of people in writing their own scripts". In his book, Dumbing us Down, John Gatto urged parents to control the education of their children. He made a critical analysis of state education and described the system as comprehensive, informal, historical, and philosophical. John wrote several lectures which disclosed a significant conclusion which encouraged splitting institutional schools and removing certification from teaching. His belief was privatization of education along with a free market system was the most viable option.^[13] Gatto's book aimed to inspire education advocates and the inception of Praxis tests. This testing measured academic competence and knowledge of specific subjects required for teaching. Praxis tests are taken by potential educators as part of certification required by state and professional licensing entities.^[14]

Gatto demystifies the apparent confusion and meaninglessness of public schooling system by exposing its real purpose and function. According to Gatto, the purpose of public education can be boiled down to six functions:^[15]

1. The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are designed to establish fixed habits of response to authority.
2. The integrating function. The purpose of this function is to make kids as like as possible.
3. The diagnostic and directive function. Schools determine each student's proper social role.
4. The differentiating function. Students are trained no more than to meet the standards of determined social role.
5. The selective function. Unadopted students are treated like inferiors in order to prevent their reproduction.
6. The propaedeutic function. Small fraction of selected students is created in order to continue the schooling system.

• "Against School." Harper’s Magazine (September 2003), pp. 33-38. "How public education cripples our kids, and why."

• Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: A Critical Commentary. New York: Monarch Press (1975). ISBN 978-0671009663. OCLC 5687233.
• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers (1992). Foreword by Thomas Moore. ISBN 0865714487. OCLC 926842308.
• The Exhausted School: The First National Grassroots Speakout on the Right to School Choice: Carnegie Hall, New York City. New York: Oxford Village Press (1993). Preface by Patrick Farenga. ISBN 978-0945700029. OCLC 1010741721.
• A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling. Berkeley, Calif.: Berkeley Hills Books (2002). ISBN 978-1893163218. OCLC 1043481859.
• The Underground History of American Education. New York: Oxford Village Press (2001). ISBN 978-0945700043. OCLC 45004688.

Revised edition (2017) by Oxford Scholars Press (New York) features a foreword is by U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD, an introduction by David Ruenzel, and an afterword by Richard Grove of Tragedy & Hope media.^[16]

• Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. Gabriola Island, B.C. (Canada): New Society Publishers (2008). ISBN 978-0865716315. OCLC 1073186340.
• The Adventures of Snider, the CIA Spider. Lost Tools Press (2017). Illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert. ISBN 978-0989280037.

"A fantastic story for children ages 5 [and up]..." "...a fabulously funny epic poem."^[17]

• "Some Lessons From The Underground History of American Education." In: Everything You Know is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies, edited by Russell Kick. New York: Disinformation Company (2002). pp. 274-87. ISBN 978-0971394209. OCLC 49862149.

• "How Will It Be In The New World Order?" New York Times (February 11, 1991), p. A18.
• "Kohn's Accuracy Questioned." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 86, no. 1 (September 2004), p. 95. JSTOR 20441708.

• "The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher" (Chapter 1). In: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers (1992). pp. 1-19. Foreword by Thomas Moore. ISBN 0865714487. OCLC 926842308.

"This speech was given on the occasion of the author being named 'New York State Teacher of the Year' for 1991."

• Human Resources Documentary (2010)
• IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity (2011), with Samuel L. Blumenfeld.
• Thrive (2011)

• The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto (2012). An interview with Richard Grove by Tragedy & Hope.^[18]
  • Sourced transcript.
  • Bibliography and references.

• Critical pedagogy
• Deschooling Society (book by Ivan Illich)
• Hidden curriculum
• How Children Fail (book by John Holt)
• Total institution

Other critics of public education:

• Zachariah Montgomery
• Richard Grant White
• Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt

Wikiquote has quotations related to John Taylor Gatto.

• Official website
• “How a Famous Teacher Introduces Real Life Lessons to His Students"
• Kinza Academy, Homeschooling with the Classics. Gatto was on the Advisory Board.
• Collection of essays Gatto was a regular columnist for The Link Homeschool Newspaper
• Transcript of radio interview with Jerry Brown
• Gatto's November 2007 visit to Netherlands: audio, video and articles
• The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto (complete download)
• Collection of John Taylor Gatto quotes and videos

• “How a Famous Teacher Introduces Real Life Lessons to His Students
• "The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher" – originally published in Whole Earth Review, Fall 1991
• The Seven Lesson School Teacher
• A set of quotes from Gatto and links to original essays
• "Institutional Schooling Must Be Destroyed"
• "The Tyranny Of Compulsory Schooling"
• "The Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?", article published by Diablo Valley School
• "Why Schools Don't Educate - Teacher of the Year acceptance speech"
• "A Short Angry History of American Forced Schooling"
• Book reviews by Layla AR
• Everything We Think About Schooling Is Wrong! – Interview with Gatto (PDF file download)
• A set of quotes from Gatto and links to original essays

• The Ultimate History Lesson, 2012 on YouTube, released free
• Bartleby Project 2010 on YouTube
• John Gatto Keynote Talks - Video: Five complete keynote talks by John Gatto (2004–2010)
• Altruists.org – download audio files of some of Gatto's talks
• Video of Gatto interview, broken into topic sections
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Speech at a home schooling Conference by Radio for Peace (MP3)
• The Lew Rockwell Show, Aug 25, 2010
• Collection of Gatto Files, mainly MP3s