Reddit reviews Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

I suggest you look into the history of education. A very well written book by a person in the know, Weapons of Mass Instruction was passed around my social group and even resulted in a teacher resigning from her job in disgust. John Taylor Gatto was an educator for over 30 years and after what he called a "deliberate dumbing down" of kids in school, resigned by writing a letter to the Op-Ed section of the Wall St. Journal.

I think school is such an eminent part of society that it isn't even questioned. But why wouldn't we question it? Shouldn't we ask if a Monday-Friday, 8-4 schedule is the correct way to educate a child? Would he learn better from first hand experience, from taking more field trips, from being allowed to investigate on his own?

After that, you could check out Charlotte Iserbyt's (former senior policy advisor in the U.S. dept of education) book on the history of education. You'll learn that, in the past, education was a process by which a student was given tools to interact with his world and how the definition of education has been changed to a scientific training of students brains to elicit the "correct responses" to certain stimuli. Like robots, basically.

Here's a link to Iserbyt's book online. http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

And gatto's book
http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Mass-Instruction-Schoolteachers-Compulsory/dp/0865716692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302404873&sr=8-1

The idea that forcing our youth into these prisons until they are 18, because we have deemed them unable to be of use society until then is ridiculous. Don't misinterpret me, education is extremely important, mandatory schooling just isn't the way to go about it. I'd recommend reading this.

Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0865716692

I didn't really get the bit about water and words. Could anyone explain it?

Here's that placebo effect video they briefly showed bits of. It's really well done.

Also, that piece on education made me think of the book Weapons of Mass Instruction.

HBD

Darwin’s Enemies on the Left and Right Part 1, Part 2 (Blog Post)*

The History and Geography of Human Genes (Abridged edition) – Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
The 10,000 Year Explosion – Gregory Cochrane
Race, Evolution, and Behavior – Rushton
Why Race Matters – Michael Levin

****

Intelligence and Mind

The Bell Curve – Charles Murray
The Global Bell Curve – Richard Lynn
Human Intelligence – Earl Hunt
Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence – Robert Sternberg
A Conflict of Visions – Thomas Sowell
The Moral Animal – Robert Wright
The Blank Slate – Stephen Pinker
Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature – Murray Rothbard (essay)

****

Education

Real Education – Charles Murray
Inside American Education – Thomas Sowell
Illiberal Education – Dinesh D’Sousa
God and Man at Yale – William Buckley
Weapons of Mass Instruction – John Taylor Gatto
The Higher Education Bubble – Glenn Reynolds

****

​

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Mass-Instruction-Schoolteachers-Compulsory/dp/0865716692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301671958&sr=8-1

Haven't read this book yet but it looks interesting. This guy basically complains that the system of schooling in the US is based on principles that advocate "dumbing down" society..

Quite the contrary.

Here are two great reads if you're interested on getting the "abolish the Dept. of Education" peoples take. It's not so much "screw them" as it is "we can give children a better education".

https://www.amazon.com/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Anniversary/dp/0865714487/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Mass-Instruction-Schoolteachers-Compulsory/dp/0865716692/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Have you heard of / read Weapons of Mass Instruction? I'd like to know you're opinion on it.