Blog Post: How did your high school experience compare to Gatto's claims about high school? In what ways? Why?

One of the major themes of Gatto's writing is about the problem of how the school system is designed to leave both the students and teachers bored. My high school experience is certainly consistent with that statement; for an overwhelming majority of the classes that I took during my four years of high school, the best of times were boring and the rest were miserable. John Gatto frequently brings up the education system of Prussia that our education system is apparently built upon, and without any real background knowledge about the subject, I can't really make a comparison between the two. I can, however, say that John Gatto's essay and descriptions of that education system are very reminiscent of my own experience in kindergarten through twelfth grade education. Throughout high school, I constantly felt as though most classes offered were designed for even the most lazy and incompetent student to be able to pass. There were many classes for which receiving a passing grade was essentially just a matter of showing up for class most of the time - the academic equivalent of winning a game just by being at the field. I don't mean to say that people who aren't naturally gifted at a subject shouldn't pass, but passing should at the very least require effort. I also had the opportunity to take many Advanced Placement (AP) courses. These were much more challenging than standard courses - they actually required some effort to pass. It says a lot about the "standard education" one would receive from not taking any AP classes when the most distinguishing feature of the advanced classes is that they actually require effort.