Deep Caverns Can Fill Empty Children

The following essay was written as part of an assignment for the SLIS course I am taking as an IUPUI distances student (S603 High Tech Learning, Instructed by Annette Lamb, PhD):

Deep Caverns Can

Fill Empty Children

"Modern scientific stupidity masquerades as intellectual knowledge - which it is not. Real knowledge has to be earned by hard and painful thinking; it can't be generated in group discussions or group therapies but only in lonely sessions with yourself. Real knowledge is earned only by ceaseless questioning of yourself and others, and by the labor of independent verification; you can't buy it from a government agent, a social worker, a psychologist, a licensed specialist, or a schoolteacher. There isn't a public school in this country set up to allow the discovery of real knowledge - not even the best ones - although here and there individual teachers, like guerrilla fighters, sabotage the system and work toward this ideal. But since schools are set up to classify people rather than to see them as unique, even the best schoolteachers are strictly limited in the amount of questioning they can tolerate."

--John Taylor Gatto, "Confederacy of Dunces: The Tyranny Of Compulsory Schooling"


John Taylor Gatto, retired teacher and well-known critic of compulsory schooling, in his book, The Underground History of American Education, gives his "recipe for empty children," which essentially outlines fifteen commonly accepted and celebrated practices of institutionally-based schools that Gatto contends results in children who are void of meaningful learning experiences. Underground History aims to expose the genesis, history, and scope of the "new mass schooling which came about slowly but continuously after 1890," (Gatto, "American Education History Tour"). Gatto asserts that traditional institutional instruction in American has four specific purposes. The first three, "To make good people...To make good citizens...And to make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum," were existent even before the American Revolution. However, the fourth "new purpose" of institutional schooling, "to serve business and government," (which has been evolving slowly but surely since 1890), could only be implemented under the right conditions (id.):

[The fourth purpose] could only be achieved efficiently by isolating children from the real world, with adults who themselves were isolated from the real world, and everyone in the confinement isolated from one another.

Only then could the necessary training in boredom and bewilderment begin. Such training is necessary to produce dependable consumers and dependent citizens who would always look for a teacher to tell them what to do in later life, even if that teacher was an ad man or television anchor.] (id.)

I suspect that everyone who has experienced compulsory schooling can recall countless classroom situations where the instructor taught in a manner that Gatto would recognize the students as "empty children". In fact, Gatto would argue that this is unavoidable by the very nature of institutionalized schooling. Even the most aggressive school reform cannot hope to address this condition, as the production of empty children is a necessary component of the fourth purpose. In other words, turning out graduating classes of empty children is the ultimate goal within the context of mass schooling. Along this line, Gatto asserts:

School is a place where a comprehensive social vision is learned. Without a contrary vision to offer, the term "school reform" is only a misnomer describing trivial changes. Any large alteration of forced schooling, which might jeopardize the continuity of workers and customers that the corporate economy depends upon, is unthinkable without some radical change in popular perception preceding it. Business/School partnerships and School-to-Work legislation aren’t positive developments, but they represent the end of any pretense that ordinary children should be educated.

(Underground History)

Dr. Annette Lamb, IUPUI professor and leader in the field of Educational Technology, reflects on the relationship between the purposes of formal education, the potential use of technology in education, and the philosophies of John Taylor Gatto as follows:

As we explore ways to use new technologies, it's important that we reflect on the purpose of formal education. From mandates like No Child Left Behind to the constant barrage of new educational theories and methods, learners and their teachers are bombarded with conflicting messages about the role of formal education. The skyrocketing technology resources and tools for teaching and learning add to this information overload. With all these opportunities, does the American system of education promote eager thinkers or empty children? How? Why?

Watch the short video titled Empty Children. Some people would argue that formal education systems aren't meeting the needs of today's children. Do you agree or disagree? How can technology help fill the void of empty children or contribute to the problem? Do books like The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto promote misinformation or advocate real alternatives?

(Lamb, "High Tech Learning: Issues.")

After having read much of Gatto's Underground History, I realize that I cannot exhaustively answer Dr. Lamb's questions within the confines of this particular essay. According to Gatto, the issues surrounding Dr. Lamb's questions are amazingly complex and deeply intertwined within America's histories of politics, government, psychology, healthcare, education, economics, consumerism, religion, and beyond. However, just as I asserted above that any person who is a product of the American school system would be able to recognize clear instances of being taught as an "empty child", hopefully each of us has had moments of genuine and insightful learning that arose out of the assistance of a teacher who strove to promote the "whole child"[1], and, whether conscious of the existence of the four purposes of mass schooling or not, committed small acts of sabotage (Gatto,"Confederacy of Dunces") Unfortunately, these moments are all-to-rare and usually happen haphazardly, and cannot possibly counter the power of the fourth purpose of compulsory schooling.

Still, based upon Gatto's "recipe for empty children" (where the recipe for the "whole child" is to do the complete opposite of the empty child recipe), individuals charged with teaching America's children can take measures to try to counter the agenda of the fourth purpose and do so most effectively when they become aware of the genesis of institutionalized schooling as described by Gatto. Some of the major components of nurturing a "whole child" include developing the ability to self-teach, exhibiting self-sufficiency (including working for one's self as an adult rather than under the management of others), meaningfully engaging in private ritual ("such as the rituals of food preparation and family dining"), the learning of useful knowledge ("such as how to build a house, repair a car, make a dress"), the development of the instinct to question authority, and learning for the sake of learning itself.

In her article "Energize Your Program: Collaborating Across the Curriculum," Dr. Annette Lamb presents many specific examples of practical ways in which individuals teachers can do their best to battle the fourth purpose. Along this line, Dr. Lamb explains that:

While reading, writing, and mathematics are tools for expressing and understanding ideas and information, curricular areas such as art, music, health, and physical education inspire students to be active and creative. From books and blogs to GPS and video projects, this...stresses practical strategies for collaborating with teachers across the curriculum to address standards, as well as promote a passion for learning.

* * *
Energizing your program means creating synergy. This can be accomplished by combining resources and designing exciting, inquiry-rich environments.

In this article, and on a complementary webpage entitled "Keeping it Real: Active Learning," Dr. Lamb focuses on ways to incorporate multisensory activities that enhance the learning experience for students, especially those that are technologically-based. Technology-based activities are often more self-paced and are designed for students to work independent of direct instruction from the teacher. For example, Dr. Lamb provides links to virtual fieldtrips to such places as The Great Barrier Reef, Japan and Field Trip Earth, and online activities such as Be an Architect, Create a Sculpture, Symmetry Webquest, and Human Body Atlas.

However, the paradox remains that the distribution of grades will still be a part of even the most hands-on or independent activity (technologically-based or otherwise) that occurs within the formal classroom , which happens to be the 11th "ingredient" of Gatto's recipe for an empty child ("Grade, evaluate, and assess children constantly and publicly. Begin early. Make sure everyone knows his or her rank,") (Underground History). In addition, Gatto warns against the propensity for addition to technology in the 7th ingredient for an empty child ("Addict the young to machinery and electronic displays. Teach that these are desirable to recreation and learning both,") (id. )

Gatto sees the solution to "empty children" as lying outside of the confines of the walls of the institutionalized school:

At every school where I taught, I told kids that as long as they would do 90% of the work, and as long as the idea was there, and as long as they'd sit still for my lectures about the nuances of the idea, then I was willing to be their assistant. The major access road to self-development is raw experience, but schools often deny that to students. Memorizing notes off the board is not real work. Overthrowing a political dynasty that doesn't want a horrible monument to the horrible Lennon in Central Park is real work.

* * *

Let's shift to the world of business and work for a moment. Grades and gold stars in school prepare people for pay raises and promotions on the job, don't they?
They're BS. I'm against those things. But don't make me look like one of those romantic people who are against them because I don't want to see kids compete with one another. Grades don't measure anything other than your relevant obedience to a manager.

(Pink, "I'm a Saboteur.")

Further, in his presentation "A Map, a Mirror, and a Wristwatch," Gatto states:

[C]ertain basic tools of self-knowledge like mirrors, maps, clocks, and so on are kept away from children - at least in any classroom you would care to visit in New York City. Other basic tools aren't around either, like hammers, chisels, saws, glue, telephones, calendars, typewriters, paper, pens, scissors, rulers. They just aren't there, at least not in accessible places. Schools are stripped bare of effective tools, not because of lack of money but because the autonomy that tools confer works against the collective socialization logic schools are about.

Tools constitute a curriculum of power. This seems something too fundamental to belabor. It is hard to make tool-competent people into a proletariat. Did you ever wonder why kids don't do the cooking and serving in a school, or the glazing, wiring, plumbing, roofing, and furniture repair? I've wondered about that often. At any rate a malaise follows the withdrawal of tools from common life. Of 62 functioning classrooms in my intermediate school there is a clock in exactly one of them. And it's been years since I saw a student wear a wristwatch. What could be going on? Something spooky I can tell you.

A few months ago, as I was driving to work, I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show on NPR. Diana was interviewing Marietta McCarty, the author of a book called Little Big Minds: Sharing Philosophy with Kids . McCarty's book stems from the central premise that children are natural philosophers and includes 15 chapters, each one dealing with a specific philosophic concept and each concept being connected to two philosophers (for example, the concept of Nature is explored through the philosophies of Lau Tzu and Baruch Spinoza.) Little Big Minds is meant to act as a guide for sharing philosophy with children, whether you are a teacher, a parent, a relative, a mentor--basically the sky's the limit as to your role in the child's life. The "program" can be followed step-by-step, or simply whenever a teachable moment arises.

McCarty sets out a list of teaching techniques, including starting each structured session with quiet time: "Children gradually experience the benefits of becoming still, realizing that being calm makes clear thinking possible. Simply sitting in silence reduces mental clutter in any life, and kids find it curiously powerful to settle themselves," (xviii.) I can't help but think of the fact that the types of self-directed activities that technology makes possible are generally quiet ones, requiring calm inner reflection.

McCarty also points out the importance of using various mediums for investigating the various philosophical concepts, including art, music, poetry, and literature. I think that many of the activities suggested throughout Little Big Minds, therefore, would be well complemented from the wealth or resources available on the internet or other electronic materials.

Rather than by grading, McCarty suggests that a sense of completion in the form of a philosophy journal gives children a sense of satisfaction. Gatto would appreciate this aspect of Little Big Minds. Like Gatto, McCarty stresses the importance of the practicality of knowledge:

The best way to give philosophy staying power in the minds and hearts of students is to be sure that they can directly apply the philosopher's theories to their everyday lives. I frequently remind little big minds that the point of studying philosophy is to use it as a means to improve the quality of their lives. With clear thinking, young philosophers can discover how to become an important part of the world.
(xxiv.)

Admittedly, I decided to explore the work of John Taylor Gatto because I do tend to agree with much of his criticisms of compulsory schooling. During the brief time that I taught in a public school system, the same barriers that he described clashed with what I felt to be authentic learning. Moreover, I felt that being a teacher within the public school system stunted my own ability to feel passion for learning. With the technology available now, perhaps I would be able to use these tools to more effectively teach in the spirit of what Gatto and McCarty are advocating. However, formal grades and standardized testing are two of the biggest issues I struggle with most, and there simply is no getting around these things within the institutionalized school.

Additionally, I am an inquisitive person, however, I was not taught how to be a lover of learning by having completed my education within the public school system. It is self-directed learning and exploration that motivates me. By self-directed, I mean that in order for me to be motivated, I find some component of whatever it is that I set out to learn and seek to find some aspect that will improve me as a person. For instance, I realize that I've gone a bit overboard with this particular essay in both the length and depth of my exploration of John Taylor Gatto's philosophies. I tend to do this with most things, granted I have the time to do so (and sometimes even when I really don't!) I simply do not enjoy "going through the motions" to merely complete an assignment and achieve a decent grade. In fact, it's hard for me to get motivated when I'm presented with tasks that don't allow me to be challenged me in some way. I'd go so far to say that in many instances, I resent "busy work".

I think this arises out my day-to-day life experiences growing up, and to a large extent it is influenced by the challenges I faced as a child raised in a family that was dysfunctional to the extreme. I had a handful of mentors, some of which were guerrilla teachers, that inspired me (Gatto, "Confederacy of Dunces.") However, it was not the content or subject matter that these adults shared with me; rather it was the manner in which they showed respect towards their fellow human beings in a consistent, caring, and authentic manner. Additionally, I turned to books to take me away from the harsh realities I was often forced to endure. While I am fond of saying that books saved me life, I honestly don't believe I am exaggerating. In any event, the influence that books and the experience of reading had on me as a young girl cannot be overstated. Gatto verbalizes the value of books nicely as follows:

Real books are deeply subversive of collectivization. They are the best known way to escape herd behavior, because they are vehicles transporting their reader into deep caverns of absolute solitude where nobody else can visit: No two people ever read the same great book. Real books disgust the totalitarian mind because they generate uncontrollable mental growth - and it cannot be monitored!

Television has entered the classroom because it is a collective mechanism and, as such, much superior to textbooks; similarly, slides, audio tapes, group games, and so on meet the need to collectivize, which is a central purpose of mass schooling. This is the famous "socialization" that schools do so well. Schoolbooks, on the other hand, are paper tools that reinforce school routines of close-order drill, public mythology, endless surveillance, global ranking, and constant intimidation.

(id.)

The deep caverns of absolute solitude were exactly what I needed as a child, and since I desperately needed an escape, I was lucky to have found them. Working in a downtown urban public library, I see children everyday who are not so lucky. Gatto has given me some additional insights on how to do my part in helping these future adults.

Footnotes:

[1] Gatto uses the term "whole child" as the polar opposite of the "empty child," (Underground History).

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