Dumbing Us Down

We had a snow day yesterday so I finally read John Gatto's 1991 book Dumbing Us Down, which "exposes the hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling." He talks a lot about community and how compulsory k-12 schooling takes away time from children being in their natural community, the basis of which is the family. I appreciate his definition of community as "collections of families and friends who find major meaning in extending the family association to a band of honorary brothers and sisters." He notes that a survey of 8th grade Los Angeles school children found that three quarters of them couldn't find the Atlantic Ocean on a map or calculate 50% of 36. I'd like to create a quiz with these types of questions that eighth graders would have to take to graduate. I don't think it's realistic to proffer family or community-based educational efforts as a replacement to our educational system, but I do think Gatto's "hidden curriculum" does identify weaknesses in our system of education which need addressing. The current growth of home-schooling, virtual schools/online education, and parochial schools are trends which Gatto might appreciate.