The author of "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why," John Gatto, explains how tedious his thirty years of teaching had become. Gatto received the teacher of the year award and taught in the worst and best schools in Manhattan. However, despite his involvement, he felt bored. He shares his experiences with students to show that students are more interested in grades rather than learning the course. School has become a mandatory way of life that is expected in today's society. Although Gatto believes that education is important, he believes school is purposeless. According to Gatto, success does not necessarily result from good performance in school as society might think. Instead, history has shown that school has little effect on person's success.
Gatto begins his article by telling his readers that some of the people who shaped the nation had an education, but did not go to school. For example, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln did not attend a twelve-year school program that exists today. Gatto continues by explaining his view that school systems are like a jail for kids. He states that the idea of forced mass schooling started in about 1905 through 1915, and Gatto compares the school system today to that of the Prussian's culture. In Prussia, school was forced upon kids and was supposedly intentionally made to make sure kids could never grow up. While the goals of today's schooling systems are to make respectable people, and help people accomplish their personal best, Gatto complains that five days a week, and six classes per day are too much to have for nine months out of the year. Gatto also tells his readers how kids are not the only ones bored in school, but teachers are too. As a teacher for thirty years, Gatto uses his experiences and thoughts to tell how he and his students were bored throughout the school day. Despite the amount of school kids are required to attend each year, the kids say that they are mainly trying to get good grades and not trying to learn the material taught.
