Weapons of Mass Instruction

A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

By: John Taylor Gatto

Narrated by: Michael Puttonen

John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction focuses on mechanisms of traditional education which cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, Dumbing Us Down, introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Weapons of Mass Instruction adds another chilling metaphor to the brief against conventional schooling.

Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be conditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence.

Escaping this trap requires a strategy Gatto calls "open source learning" which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach our children can avoid being indoctrinated-only then can they achieve self-knowledge, good judgment, and courage.

©2009 John Taylor Gatto (P)2012 Post Hypnotic Press Inc.

Critic reviews

"John Taylor Gatto has been a hero of mine for years. He has the courage to challenge an education system that is obsolete and out of touch with reality. Years ago, he gave me the courage to speak out and write my books. I trust this book will give you the courage to speak out." (Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad)

"For over 20 years John Taylor Gatto has been working tirelessly to teach us the truth about our education system - that compulsory schooling does not work to foster a democratic way of life!" (Mary Leue, Founder of the Albany Free School)

"All of Gatto's words shine. Let's have Gatto as US Secretary of Education and then, this time, he can blow it all up!" (George Meegan, author of The Longest Walk and world record holder, longest unbroken march in human history)

Credible author

This message is sorely needed today. I appreciated the author's anecdotes and historical connections. As a teacher, he has given me a lot to think about.

heartbreaking to become aware

It's heartbreaking to become aware of all the BS government schools have done and to have lived through much of it. JTG has done so much to expose this in his books. if you are a teacher, parent or student, this will open your eyes

best book to understand life in modern USA

Great book that everyone should read. it gives you the tactics and the whole picture of the public school indoctrinating that is going on today

Required Reading!

Not only gives a background of the history of modern institutional schooling, but solutions about what to do about it.

eye opening

I love how the author is not just saying an opinion from the outside but really gives a perspective from the internal workings and the dangers of what the school system has become.

Makes you think

This book does a great job of presenting an alternative view of our education system. The author causes the listener really think about what they learned or did not learn in school.

If you have ever wondered why education does not improve considering all the money the government throws at it....this book is for you.

Latest missing scroll of our era, no equivalent

Awesome! Life changing masterpiece, thanks SIR. This should be legal evidence against the government school system.

John Gatto knows!!!

This is an excellent listen, I only wish that John could have read it himself (sans his stroke) yet the narrator does an excellent job himself. Now we have Common Core in most states. My granddaughter's are taught this way & it frightens me so much! If I can say anything in regard to CC it would be "I'd prefer them not to!"

Warning: Do not read this book. You won't be able to send your kids to school again!

This is an incredible book! The author has certainly done his research and presented the information in such an enlightening manner. There is so much truth in this book that it's scary! Don't hesitate, just download and listen!

How wasn't this book censored from audible&amazon?

I wonder how this wasn't censored yet?

It picks many great subjects some of which are:
- Class interests, and upper-class efforts to keep the things they are for all next generations through schooling
- Schools (apart from some exceptional teachers) don't have the mission to teach people how to think critically because that is inconvenient and dangerous for people in power, but schools rather play the role of propaganda, like other mass media tools
- to condition kids for executing unquestionably and obediently orders from above, be consumers, not creators later in society

Besides mentioned above some other schooling roles are:
- to park kids while their parents work
- to stuff their heads with unimportant information/facts/subjects so they have no energy, time, and understanding to tackle really important subjects that will make a huge difference in their lives later

Read it, make your own conclusions, and share it with others - maybe this will speed up the overhaul of "schooling" and transform it into true education.

On performance - it could be slightly improved in pronunciation, or speaking style, I had to listen to it at a slower speed, and rewind some phrases, but overall it was good.