John Taylor Gatto Has Died
John Gatto’s heroic life has ended. He was a dedicated public school teacher who thought big.
He was named New York City and New York State Teacher of the Year.
I first heard from him in the early 1990's when he contacted me about an alternative education presentation he was planning. He had come to realize how broken and ineffective the education system was, especial for the inner city, mostly minority children he taught. So he decided to rent Carnegie Hall to tell people about this and present to them some of the alternatives! Talk about thinking big!
He asked me to put him in touch with people in alternative education who should be speakers at the Carnegie Hall event, which I did. Thousands of people came.
Eventually he traveled all around the world with his message. He wrote many powerful books. He became a strong proponent of getting out of the system if necessary and homeschooling.
Perhaps the last chapter was the most heroic. He suffered a terrible stroke in 2011 that left him paralyzed on his left side. He could no longer walk.
But he eventually learned how to use the computer and continued to write books and essays. Among other things he put out a revised version of his “Underground History of American education.”
At the AERO conference in 2017 I had the honor of reading a keynote John wrote for the conference. He was continuing to work for this cause.
We have lost John Gatto. But he certainly didn’t “go gentle into that good night.”
