Here’s the kid you were trying to force me to drug.

Here’s the kid you took away from me when I refused to follow your nonsense order.

SHAME ON YOU!

It’s terrible – just look at how distracted this kid is – he can’t pay attention – he can’t sit still – he’s rambunctious – his mind wanders – he’s so endangered! HE NEEDS DRUGS!

Gimme a friggin break!

Shelly Griffin – Judith Abramsohn – Judge Dean Fink – SHAME ON YOU!

If I could make a list of people who I’d like to shake their hands and thank for the way their writing has influenced me, John Taylor Gatto would be at the top of that list. A few days ago I got the opportunity to do just that.

John is a former public school teacher of 30 years. He was named New York City Teacher of the year 3 times and New York State Teacher of the year once. He quit teaching, while still New York State Teacher of the Year, claiming that he was no longer willing to hurt children.

He’s now an outspoken critic of the public school system and has written some of the BEST books out there on the subject including….

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992).
The Exhausted School (1993).
A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling (2000).
The Underground History of American Education (2001).
Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling (2008).

“This perhaps occurred for no other reason other than because of these prescriptions”