Notable folks in Western Society often urge us that we should read all or a subset of books and literary texts forming part of the Western Canon as without having gone through the experience of reading these books, a person cannot be considered 'educated'. However, some of the books in the Western Canon (for the sake of being less controversial I prefer not to name them) are a torturous read and we can barely get past the first couple of pages. Alternatively, each individual can develop his/her own personal cannon consisting of books which have helped that individual's belief system. This philosophy of a Personal Cannon has thus guided me think a lot of a books which I would prefer to read often. One such book in my personal Cannon is Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto.
Relevance:
The message of this book stays as relevant in 2020 as it might have been when it was first published in 1992. The one line message of this book is - Compulsory schooling robs creative streak and genius of individuals and turns them into consumerist non-thinking zombies. Incidents are happening in US in June 2020 which shows us the ignorance afflicting most young people and I cannot help but think how schools might be the root cause of these events to some degree.
Problems:
Solutions:
Quotes from the Book:
"We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgements and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults."
"Our schools are factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned... And that is the business of the school to build its pupils according to the specifications laid down."
"The capacity for loyalty is stretched too thin when it tries to attach itself to the hypothetical solidarity of the human race. It needs to attach itself to specific people and specific places, not to an abstract ideal of universal human rights."
"The natural solution to learning to live together in a community is first to learn to live apart as individuals and as families. Only when you feel good about yourself can you feel good about others."
"Children and families need some relief from government surveillance and intimidation if original expressions belonging to them are to develop. Without these freedom has no meaning."
"Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important: how to live and how to die."