John Taylor Gatto’s Weaons of Mass Instruction

Valuable Human Competencies of an Educated Person

1.      Educated persons are seldom at a loss what to do with time; being alone is often a blessing to the educated because they like their own company.

2.      E P can form healthy attachments anywhere because they understand the dynamics of relationships.

3.      EP are aware of, accept, and understand the significance of their own mortality and each of its seasons.  They learn every moment, gain insight at every age, even to their last minutes on earth.

4.      EP possesses a personal blueprint of value.  They accept no one else’s values without passing it through the test of critical review. But they also are aware of the different values of the human communities.

5.      EP enjoys power to create new things, new ideas and new experiences; the educated discover truth themselves through the rules of evidence, not by memorizing opinions of others.

6.      EP detects other people’s needs and in moving to meet those needs earn a living.  They do not become overly dependent on material wealth for happiness, recognizing that the most valuable goods – love, curiosity, reverence, and empathy – can be had without cost.

7.      EP actively seeks variety and knows how to master it sufficiently for pleasure and enlightenment.  They are aware that without a home of their own and home responsibilities variety is hollow, experience superficial.

8.      EP explores self by acquiring intimate knowledge of one’s parents and ancestors – and their culture.  Who am I? Where are my limits?  What are my possibilities? What range do the strange selves about me display? Exploring these things is like crucial appointments an educated person must keep; without honoring these only incomplete adulthood results.

9.      The physical world near and far must be thoroughly examined, analyzed, and tested.  This is work which can’t adequately be done if locked in school 5 days a week.  If delayed too long, the opportunity is lost forever.

10.  Complex associations must be encountered and wrestled with – They include family relationships, friendships, companionships, comradeship, love, hate, community, networking and more.  Not to practice each early is to risk becoming emotionally crippled. Confinement in five day a week schools is designed to socialize children into networks – the weakest of human associations which will betray your trust.

11.  The Educated mind takes a thoughtful approach to vocation – it should contribute to the common good and at the same time earn a living.

12.  EP does not leave out a very close study of Death, the last act of the human cycle. Without clear awareness of the short arc of la life, nothing means very much.   Every choice is our reality of existence with meaning.  The dying owe the next generation a world as good as the one they are leaving.