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Nationwide there has been much discussion about our failing public education system – low standardized test scores, teacher shortages, crowded classrooms, school budget crises, crumbling school buildings, dangerous playgrounds, illiterate untrained young adults, and more. Chronically failing public school systems throughout the United States have compelled politicians to address this issue in a counterproductive and symbolic manner (i.e. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act). Many parents have sought alternative education settings for their children such as a school voucher system, charter schools, homeschooling, and costly, homogeneous, independent schools.

John Taylor Gatto has taken the debate further, describing our public school structure as a “Catastrophe.” Gatto asserts that public schooling in this country was “deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens in order to render the populace ‘manageable.’ ” (quote from Against Schools article by Gatto, Harper’s Magazine, 2003 – read the article)

If that is true, are public schools succeeding in their original purpose? If so, what does Gatto propose Americans do for our children instead? What do our young people really need to know to create abundant lives for themselves, for survival and community building in the 21st century?

For Monday’s Conversation, John Taylor Gatto will engage with us as we explore possible solutions to these troubling questions about American schooling. Besides reading the Harper’s article linked to above, it might be interesting preparation to listen to our past call with Jonathan Kozol.

Check out our nearly 50 Conversations with some of our most articulate policy and movement leaders.