Gatto reveals the deadening heart of compulsory state schooling: assumptions and structures that stamp out the self-knowledge, curiosity, concentration, and solitude essential to learning. In his 26 years of award-winning teaching in New York City's public schools, Gatto has found that independent study, community service, large doses of solitude, and apprenticeships with adults of all walks of life are the keys to helping children break the thrall of our conforming society. Gatto urges all of us to find ways to reengage (...) children and families in actively controlling our culture, economy, and society. (shrink)