Author(s)

Publication Year

Publisher

ISBN: 9780865716698-11

Categories: , ,

Afterword

Invitation to an Open Conspiracy: The Bartleby Project

From: Weapons of Mass Instruction

$1.40

The whole diseased empire of institutional schooling is, like the wonderful one-horse shay, extremely fragile. Its most vulnerable point, the glue that holds the thing together, is standardized testing which purports, dishonestly, to determine success or failure in future life. The author invites you, singly or in groups, to politely decline to participate in these tests, saying only, “I prefer not to take this test.” Nothing more — no bad language, no violence. If ten percent refused to take the tests, the school world would be shaken to its foundations. Call it an open conspiracy. Be brave. There’s nothing they can do to you that matters if you sincerely prefer not to. But don’t fake it — if you love to take these tests, take them by all means.

Preview

Contributors

John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto taught 30 years in public schools before resigning from school teaching on the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal during the year he was named New York State’s official “Teacher of the Year.” Since then he has been a tireless advocate for school reform, traveling over three million miles to lecture on the subject. His earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, has sold over 100,000 copies.