Why Do Kids Shoot Up Schools - John Taylor Gatto

tl;dr Modern education is a colossal waste of resources and time designed to destroy children's spirits and render them more easily manageable. Complex spheres of politics also siphon money from the education pipeline as well as ensure no teachers can make meaningful changes within the system. A smaller outpost of "boarding schools" for elites still train children to fulfill the needs of senate, high-corporate and presidential offices. Less than one dedicated school year is actually required to teach literacy and arithmatic so the person can learn other subjects.

Talking to students a regular people; contrast to separating students as 'good' and 'bad' and the students percieving disrespect.

"Scientific Management" operating outside the purview of reachable deciders.

Initial mistake in schooling was making education forced and put in to the hands of "professionalized strangers."

Students self-studying by reading books and watching videos from the library.

"Pedagogs" were Roman slave trainers; they ensured attendance and that topics set by the master were memorized.

The children are asked to memorize topics--the ones who do are obedient while the ones who do not are classified as stupid.

Microsoft set computing back ten years with poor quality software but strong marketing.

Businesses who rely on marketing are not interested in workforces with high resistance to sales tactics.

Standardized tests correlate only with success on the next standardized test.

Schools rob children of hope

Hope as the "boundary" between free men and women and drones.

"What are you doing to make them dislike you?"

Teenage suicide is the domain of comfortable families; they seem to figure out the hopelessness where others don't.

Over-organization can destroy any good organization can achieve.

"Grades" segregate people to age groups which divides them away from people of mixed ages.

Someone else can train you but you provide your own education.

Most of the school staff are not in control of school industrialization.

Making people stupid / scientific management to make the public easier to manage by a small group.

Interlocking finance concerns prevent change: trying to buy cheaper textbooks offends textbook salesmen which then threatens funding/job positions.

38 contact hours needed for [basic reading proficiency] [..] the child can continue to learn simply by reading

25 contact hours to achieve basic mathematics proficiency

Independent funding is required for a school to avoid being clowned by school boards.

275 private boarding schools used to "preserve the breeding stock." Most corporate directors attended one.

Children should have physical, social and emotional hobby, because hobbies are the only time someone isn't telling them what to do. (Princeton.)