(Untitled)

Jul 12, 2005 13:40

I wonder what TAMSters would think of John Taylor Gatto's analysis of the public school system in America... The Underground History of American Education.

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naralian August 4 2005, 12:03:23 UTC
I got halfway through the prologue, then realized that the example used was stupid. Any child who takes school that seriously was fucked up to begin with (and is completely ficitonal, as the example was 99% imaginary and based on incomplete anecdotal evidence in the first place). Add this to the writer's rampant hyperbole and rather unclear and poorly assembled syntax, and I couldn't bring myself to read the rest of the poor fellow's selectively informed train-wreck of a book. Consider this an act of kindness. If I read the whole thing, I get the feeling that I'd have to spend a lot of time ripping the ideas in the book into tatters, which, let's face it, is a waste of both my time and yours.

Then, I could be wrong. Perhaps in chapter one the author changes into a reasonable, informed person relying on real evidence and reason rather than sensationalism and anecdotal evidence. I think my decision to stop reading leaves that possibility distinctly open, thus preserving my opinion of the author to some extent.

Never say I didn't make an attempt to preserve my optimism, eh.

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