''The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher’s Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling'' (, pbk. ) is a critique of the United States

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

system by John Taylor Gatto. A former teacher, Gatto left the classroom the same year he was named New York State Teacher of the Year. He announced his decision in a letter titled "I Quit, I Think". Using anecdotes gathered from thirty years of teaching, alongside documentation, Gatto presents his view of ''modern compulsion schooling'' as opposed to genuine education, describing a "conflict between systems which offer physical safety and certainty at the cost of suppressing free will, and those which offer liberty at the price of constant risk". Gatto argues that educational strategies promoted by government and industry leaders for over a century included the creation of a system that keeps real power in the hands of very few people. From the book's Introduction: :"... Underground History isn’t a history proper, but a collection of materials toward a history, embedded in a personal essay analyzing why mass compulsion schooling is unreformable. The history I have unearthed is important to our understanding; it’s a good start, I believe, but much remains undone." :"... what I’m trying to describe sthat what has happened to our schools was inherent in the original design for a planned economy and a planned society laid down so proudly at the end of the nineteenth century." The book was read from 2006-2007 for the

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radio show.

Editions

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released a revised edition of the book in 2017, featuring a foreword is by

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, an introduction by

David Ruenzel David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, and an afterword by Richard Grove of Tragedy & Hope media. The edition was edited by David James Rodriguez.''The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteachers's Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling''.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

. .

Reception

Layla Abdel Rahim included the book on her reading list regarding education and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

. She described the book as, "an extremely important critique of culture and pedagogy."Abdel Rahim, Layla (

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)
Review of ''The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher’s Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling''
'' miltsov.org''

References

External links

Full text
at

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Full text online
at johntaylorgatto.com
Full audiobook available
( MP3), read by Lyn Gerry and Robin Upton at Unwelcome Guests.
John Taylor Gatto's official website
Reviews
Review and summary by kuro5hin's localroger
at kuro5hin.org
Review and Summary by Chris Acheson
at Slashdot * Review by VolumesOfValue (audio) at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underground History of American Education 2000 non-fiction books Books about education History books about the United States History of education in the United States