School Time

by equity design

Hey all, it’s about that time of year again, school is just around the corner. In typical Equity Design fashion we like to approach things through a broader lens. We are wondering what school taught you, good and bad, and what it didn’t teach you.  To get your juices going we reprint John Taylor Gatto’s recent article in YES! Magazine. Feel free to email us your thoughts, or better, comment below.

Higher Education: 12 Things You Might Not Have Learned in a Classroom

by John Taylor Gatto posted Aug 14, 2009 You won’t find “takes honors classes,” “gets good grades,” or “attends only Ivy League schools” on John Taylor Gatto’s list of qualities of an educated person. Gatto taught in New York City schools for 30 years and was named New York State’s Teacher of the Year, but his experiences convinced him that what students need is less time in classrooms and more time out in the world. Building character and community, Gatto argues, is more valuable than learning from tired textbooks and rigid lesson plans. Really educated people … 1. Establish an individual set of values but recognize those of the surrounding community and of the various cultures of the world. 2. Explore their own ancestry, culture, and place. 3. Are comfortable being alone, yet understand dynamics between people and form healthy relationships. 4. Accept mortality, knowing that every choice affects the generations to come. 5. Create new things and find new experiences. 6. Think for themselves; observe, analyze, and discover truth without relying on the opinions of others. 7. Favor love, curiosity, reverence, and empathy rather than material wealth. 8. Choose a vocation that contributes to the common good. 9. Enjoy a variety of new places and experiences but identify and cherish a place to call home. 10. Express their own voice with confidence. 11. Add value to every encounter and every group of which they are a part 12. Always ask: “Who am I? Where are my limits? What are my possibilities?” This list was adapted from John Taylor Gatto latest book, Weapons of Mass Instruction (New Society Publishers, 2009) for Learn as You Go, the Fall 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Gatto was a New York State Teacher of the Year. An advocate for school reform, his books also include Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling.

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You’re currently reading “School Time,” an entry on Equity Design.

Author:
equity design
Published:
9am on 09/01/09
Category:
Community Wealth

1 Comment

  1. David Bean 09.02.09 / 8am

    I am responding to your question is home ownership good or not? and Why. I believe the answer helps complete the list above by John Gatto. The answer in short is “Connection with the earth.”

    When I bought my home, all of a sudden nurseries appeared by the side of the road I had been passing mindlessly for years. I wanted plants to express themselves in my ground, my yard, my place. I wanted to watch the life blossom through the seasons around my home and I wanted to be part of that.

    This relation to the earth, I believe is what makes for the famed ingenuity of Americans, if we can but keep it. It requires creativity. Having a house also requires attention to maintenance which is an aspect of connection with the earth: “Honor your mother.” Prior to home ownership that gritty aspect of the earth relation can be absent.

    Home ownership makes this relation sweet as well as front and center. We
    make this place better step by step with our quiet pride of place and expression
    of taste.

    Some people see home ownership as an investment to make money. I do not. I see home ownership as an investment in myself, in community. A turtle does not gamble with its shell. Living in a place, a community for a long time can improve and deepen everything. We are so lucky to live here in Portland.

    David Bean, finish carpenter…. and gardener

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