A former New York teacher of the year, Gatto is the most interesting writer on education today. He shows that our bureaucratic schools and our bureaucratic society get in the way of learning, and he often contrasts modern America with 19th century America, where family, work, and democratic self-government let people educate themselves. Gatto uses the way he learned to read from his mother, Bootie Zimmer, as an example of the independent learning that is crushed by compulsory schooling. A longer essay on the way that our schools get in the way of learning. An argument against public schooling and in favor of a voucher system.
Time is too precious to waste.
A two-part essay on why our technological society is unsatisfying. Gatto is interviewed by former California governor Jerry Brown. There is also a brief synopsis of this interview on this page .