[p2p-research] YouTube - John Taylor Gatto - State Controlled Consciousness

[Paul D. Fernhout]

I just noticed there were some videos of New York State Teacher of the Year 
(1991) John Taylor Gatto on Youtube. 
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=john+taylor+gatto&search_type=&aq=f

Here is one:
   "YouTube - John Taylor Gatto - State Controlled Consciousness"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ogCc8ObiwQ

In that video, he explains how compulsory schooling in the USA was to create 
a utopia of abundance by molding most children into factory workers (and 
sorting out some other types). Some interesting comments at the end about 
strings. :-)

Another longer one, a Pacifica Radio interview:
   "John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 1"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKci3_cmlqI
   "John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 2"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJPRtOq-msc
   "John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 3"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo75-8MAEoc
   "John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 4"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1J9KR1_vhk
   "John Taylor Gatto: Schooling is not Education - Part 5"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQpsVBKlQ2o

That interview quotes him on how the term community does not apply to 
networks. He talks about how when the old and young are locked away, there 
is not past or future in a community, only a present. He also talks about 
what the basics are in our society, and they are not what you might expect. 
In the second section, he talks about issues that relate especially to peer 
production versus specialization (where he suggests specialization is 
dehumanizing), and suggesting nothing is very hard to do, and you can help 
yourself almost all the way. 169 hours in each week 55 hours TV, 56 hours 
sleeping, school 45 hours coming and going, 3 hours for evening meals, 
private time for each child in 9 hours (expecting them to fashion a self and 
unique consciousness in that time). The richer they are, the less TV, but 
more commercial entertainments. Talks about behaviors like consumerism that 
are addictions of dependent personalities. Towards the end he talks about 
links to ecological issues and how we have constructed an economy that is 
"insane". He says 22.5% of all jobs are guarding jobs. (I'd say the number 
is higher if you look at aspects of broader jobs like programming where a 
lot of effort goes into security, or accounting involved with rationing, 
like the health insurance industry.) He talks about a collapse, but 
essentially, a socially-caused collapse. At the end of part three, starts a 
reading of an abridged version of the Seven Lesson Schoolteacher.
   http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt
At the very end (6:40 of the fifth segment) are some comments especially 
relevant to peer interactions about education.

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/