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Nuz
By now, everybody's noticed how our public schools keep belching out wave after wave of pinheads who can't even get the spelling right when they scrawl graffiti across your apartment walls. Finally, someone who's been in the belly of the beast explains why.
John Taylor Gatto, an educator who has taught in New York City's school system for the past 30 years, wrote a book addressing classroom woes titled Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Education. Gatto will be in town for a talk Sunday night to discuss what he considers the main impediment to healthy learning: compulsory education itself.
Get schools out of the way, says Gatto, and get those youngsters into independent study, community service, apprenticeships and community service, instead. And, he adds, expose them to large doses of solitude.
What? No Gameboy?
The Worm Turns
Calling all master composters: Ecology Action is looking for 20 children-at-heart who wanna play with garbage and teach others to do the same. Run your fingers through rotten vegetables and gishy earthworms while reducing waste and returning lost nutrients to the soil. The organization will teach people the art of composting, as well as speaking and presentation skills so they can help spread the message--or mess, as the case may be. Applications are due by Jan. 8, so dial the "Rotline" at 426-5925.
This page was designed and created by the Boulevards team.
Dumbs Up
"What Schools Should Deliver," Sunday (7:30pm), Unity Temple, 407 Broadway, Santa Cruz (353-2389).
Nuz just loves tips. To contact a Nuzhound, call 457-9000.
From the Dec. 7-13, 1995 issue of Metro Santa Cruz
Copyright © 1995 Metro Publishing and Virtual Valley, Inc.