John Taylor Gatto
Updated: 20 July 2015

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  1. The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher's Intimate Investigation Into the Problem of Modern Schooling
    This book lays out Gatto's history of the long-ago origins and original intent of what became American public education, and his critique of that system. Teachers in "good" schools may take issue with some of his condemnations -- observations which don't match their experience. Or they may find naive or erroneous his optimism at the potential benefits of an individual-freedom approach to education. But as the screws turn in the increasing narrowing and punishing approach to public education that we are witnessing, I think it likely that educators and the general public will begin to see in it the real landscape he lays out in his book.

    1. Amazon: 2000 (least expensive), 2001, 2000 -- I don't know what the differences are, if any.
    2. Chapter 2: An Angry Look at Modern Schooling  (PDF, 10pp)
      This is my excerpt of a section of the book to whet your appetite, in which Gatto delves in detail into the origin-motivations of the system we have.

  2. The Ultimate History Lesson (5 segments @ ~1hr)
    Sections of a long and fascinating interview with an aging Gatto by Richard Andrew Grove of Tragedy and Hope.

    1. Home description (Tragedy and Hope website)
    2. YouTube playlist
    3. Individual MP3's
      1. Session 1 (1:18, 75MB)
      2. Session 2 (1:02, 59MB)
      3. Session 3 (1:03, 61MB)
      4. Session 4 (0:52, 50MB)
      5. Session 5 (1:31, 88MB)