a different education

Google AI Overview
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Q. What did John Taylor Gatto do for his students?
A. John Taylor Gatto empowered his students by fostering independence, critical thinking, and real-world skills through his "gorilla curriculum", taking them out of traditional classrooms for hands-on projects like selling ads, challenging the system's conformity, and teaching self-reliance, ultimately leading to his resignation as he felt mainstream schooling stifled these qualities, promoting dependency and a "hidden curriculum" of control instead.

Key Actions for His Students:

• Real-World Learning: He sent students into New York City to sell ad space for a newspaper they created, giving them practical experience.
• Challenged Assumptions: Gatto encouraged students to question the inherent value and structure of schooling itself, encouraging them to think dialectically*.
• High Trust, High Standards: He trusted his students with autonomy and responsibility, expecting them to meet high standards, which they thrived under.
• Fostered Independence: He aimed to help students find their own paths, independent of state-mandated structures, by teaching them to solve problems and think for themselves.
• Provided Sanctuary: He offered private support for students struggling with the school system, helping them find ways to cope or work around its pressures.

His Philosophy & "I Quit" Resignation:

• "The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher": Gatto argued that compulsory schooling taught students to stay in their assigned place, obey authority, rely on external validation, and become dependent, rather than fostering true education.
• Critique of Mass Schooling: He believed formal schooling created confusion, dependency, and a lack of privacy, preparing children for subservient roles rather than true self-sufficiency.
• Advocacy for Homeschooling/Unschooling: After quitting, he became a prominent advocate for homeschooling and unschooling, viewing them as ways to nurture curiosity, self-knowledge, and authentic learning.

​In essence, Gatto did everything he could to provide an actual education, rich with real-world engagement and critical thinking, in stark contrast to the conventional schooling he felt was damaging.

*Dialectical describes a method of reasoning or a situation involving opposing ideas to find truth, often through a process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, resolving contradictions to reach a higher understanding or resolution, and also relates to regional speech patterns (dialects). Essentially, it's about understanding reality by examining conflicting forces and integrating them.

Want to work with me?

1. I can give you more time than any teacher.
2. I have more experience than any teacher.
3. Your parents can negotiate a price.​

P.S. Homeschooling is not ideal: you need adults who are outside the family.

The first audiobook we will listen to (also in paperback) comes from an observer of the Spanish royal court and is a Machiavelli counterpunch. Jesuit Father Balthasar Gracián wrote The Art of Worldly Wisdom, published in 1647. It is about four hours of philosophy, and we will digest it in bits.

Along with the book we might read about the Katyn Forest Massacre of WW II and apply the maxims laid down by Balthazar.

Catholic triangulation

1710-11

• What is three-color rule in art? The rule states to use primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in 60%, 30%, and 10% proportions, respectively.
• The triadic rule is a color scheme found on the color wheel, using three colors equally spaced in a triangle to create vibrant, balanced palettes.
• The color wheel is the tool, while the triadic rule is a method of selecting harmonious colors from it for design in many phases of art.