An Evaluation of John Taylor Gatto's Opposition to Compulsory School Education

Abstract

Education has an important role in people's lives, both individually and socially. For this reason, it is accepted by almost everyone that education has a decisive power in the economic development and multi-faceted improvement of societies. From this point of view, education systems, which are among the most important institutional structures of the society, have been formed in order to provide a better education service to the individuals of all countries. Different approaches have been introduced on the establishment, functions and efficiency of education systems from past to present. These different approaches and perspectives can contribute to benefiting more from the power of education in increasing the effectiveness of education systems and providing all aspects of social development through education. However, completely opposing the education system and schools and arguing that it is unnecessary is incompatible with the reality of the life we live today. This study aims to make a scientific and academic evaluation of the criticisms of an American retired teacher named John Taylor Gatto on compulsory and public education. As it is known, John Taylor Gatto's popular book Weapons of Mass Instruction: A schoolteacher’s journey through the dark world of compulsory schoolıng (2009; in Turkish 2018) made an impact all over the world and started an important discussion compulsory education. With the publication of mentioned book, John Taylor Gatto's thoughts on compulsory and public education have recently become the agenda all over the world, as well as in Turkey. The aim of the study is to bring a different perspective to this debate, to put forward the necessity of compulsory and public education with its scientific justifications. It also aims to correct the wrong perceptions that emerged with the publication of the books by John Taylor Gatto. Case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. In this research, John Taylor Gatto’s views on compulsory education and schools, which he included in his books and writings, especially in his book, "Weapon of Mass Instruction", which has also been translated into Turkish, has been discussed and scientifically criticized. From the findings and evaluations, it has been concluded that Gatto's thoughts on education do not have a counterpart in today's and future world in many ways and do not comply with scientific facts.