John Taylor Gatto

Brief Summary

In this selection by author John Taylor Gatto, he explains his experiences while he was a school teacher. He says that he did little actual teaching in his classroom. Instead, he asserts that he spent much of his time teaching the eponymous seven lessons of the title to his students. The lessons he teaches include Confusion, Class Position, Indifference, Emotional Dependency, Intellectual Dependency, Provisional Self-Esteem, and One Can’t Hide. Through these lessons Gatto tells that he teaches his students what he is meant to teach according to the academic guidelines set before him, leading his students to become dependent on the rules set before them. This, he says, only serves to dehumanize our youth from the free thinking individuals that they should become. Gatto repeatedly criticizes this way of educating the men and women of tomorrow. He asserts that this

Throughout the text Gatto criticizes the educational system in which he worked in a satirical yet professional manner. This a pleasurable and entertaining tone to the text that would have otherwise have seemed dull and rather lifeless. Humor in the text also provides great emphasis for certain points of this selection. One small quip that I particularly was, “Schools teach exactly what they're meant teach and they do it well: how to be a good Egyptian and remain in your place in the pyramid” (180). This sentence was my favorite due to the rather blunt humor that was used within it, although it also highlights a central argument of this text. Consequently, this technique of adding memorable funny tidbits that highlight important topics of discussion, as well as making readers remember the content more clearly through mneumonic-esque means is used to a wonderful effect for both the author (whom will get his point across more clearly) and the reader (who will enjoy the occasional comical relief from a prime issue of