“What Should I Do?” – Asks a Frustrated Teacher – Ask John #9

September 21, 2015

All Posts11,047 Comments

Hi John,

Hope you’re having a great week so far. I’m sure you’re swamped with emails, but I was reading on Blake Boles’ website that you’re taking questions.

My question is more asking for counsel than anything else. I completely enjoyed your books, and they left me wondering “What can I do?”

I’m a Spanish teacher, and the program is shutting down at my school. As I’m looking I’m trying to find something that gives me fulfillment and enjoyment. This past year I’ve been throwing sand in the cogs as much as I can, but I want to do more. I feel like I have experiences I need to share, a voice that needs to be heard.

What should I do?

Are there any alternatives for teachers like me who don’t fit in the system but still want to be an “educator”?

I know that you can’t get me a job or tell me exactly what to do, but I felt like I might ask. You’ve inspired me to do all I can to stop what’s happening in schools.

Your books have changed my life. Thanks.

Best,

Morgan S.

 

JOHN’S REPLY:

Dear Morgan,

Please understand, that in the nature of reality, nobody on earth can help you answer the questions you ask except someone who knows you inside and out, knows your hopes and fears, your strengths and weaknesses, your region and its particular opportunities, prejudices, and proclivities.

“What should I do to find fulfillment and enjoyment?” is the question that every human being (and probably every animal) on earth asks themselves every day they are alive; obviously it has no generic answer, only intimately personal ones based on a high degree of self-knowledge.

One timeless way to approach an answer is to decide the things you are utterly unwilling to do, be that flipping burgers, joining the infantry, driving a taxi, harvesting fruits and vegetables, cleaning homes, etc.; what types of activity bring you joy–physical athleticism, talking, building, sales…and where do such activities concentrate in your area, or within easy reach?

What qualities/skills are prerequisite to availing these activities?

Is compensation for doing the activities adequate to support yourself as you wish?

Without a profound degree of self-knowledge and self-insight, you have no way to evaluate even the best outside advice.

Rest assured, Morgan, the question you ask is universal; all philosophy exists to give answers to it, science is useless––there is no one correct answer, but some methods of inquiry are more correct than others.

In my own life, I found great comfort in watching other people I admired and seeing how they answered your question for themselves; also in reading thousands of biographies and autobiographies looking for sympathetic models to emulate.

Age is another relevant factor to take into account: a 20 year old has more cushion for error than a 50 year old. With the limited data you gave, this is the best, in good conscience, I can manage, but some advice: the next person you ask this question to (and I encourage you to ask it of many), be sure to tell them who you really are, what exactly you seek, what you wish to avoid, and what your own preliminary thinking is on the matter.

Your confusion is a sign of incomplete early training and should serve as a warning to anyone assisting to educate others that these philosophical matters––which schools avoid addressing––should be central to educating anyone.

Religious training used to offer valuable council, but the progressive movement was so hostile to religion that national policy virtually killed advice from that quarter, saying that science could answer everything, but that promise has shown itself to be only another lie.

John Gatto

State Teacher of the Year, New York, 1991

“The World’s Most Courageous Teacher”

Get his free newsletter: https://www.JohnTaylorGatto.com

Like John at: https://www.Facebook.com/UndergroundHistoryBook

Follow John at: https://www.Twitter.com/RealJohnGatto

Watch his videos at: https://www.YouTube.com/JohnTaylorGatto

Has John made a difference in your life?

The “Thank You John Taylor Gatto” Video SNOWBALL Project consists of video recording ourselves talking about how John impacted our lives, then uploading it on YouTube.

INVITATION Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtL5xzWQVho

The purpose of the “Thank You John Taylor Gatto” Video SNOWBALL Project is to share our gratitude directly with John for his unprecedented Work by speaking about what his books or lectures have done to assist us in our own, personal educational journeys. Would you like to be a part of the educational avalanche that impacts thousands, perhaps millions?

LIKE it on FB: https://www.facebook.com/ThankYouJohnTaylorGattoSnowball

The vision of “Thank You John Taylor Gatto” Video SNOWBALL Project is to have dozens, hundreds, and thousands, perhaps millions, of people who share their realizations, gratitude, and emotions which can be attributed to John’s courageous writings, speeches, and interviews.

This will allow us to recognize John for his great contribution to humanity AND to inspire one another as we unite our minds and intentions to set the youth free from the prison of forced schooling. Haven’t we all had enough of this nonsense?

INVITATION Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtL5xzWQVho

My Video SNOWBALL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftN8S5ZV6aU

If, and when, you make a video, please email to: ThankYou@JohnTaylorGatto.com so we can add it to the master playlist.

NEXT STEP
1) Record and upload a video
2) Email the YouTube URL link to:
ThankYou@JohnTaylorGatto.com
3) Enjoy watching the snowball you helped create
Have you ever uploaded a YouTube video before? If no, are you willing to give it a try to help John?

Ideally, the video will be no longer than 20 minutes of you talking to the camera and speaking about:

-what you realized from John’s books and lectures
-why/how it has affected you
-how you will use it in life now and in the future.

Let’s help start a movement where people, including us, are empowered to share the problems of forced schooling which have harmed us and millions others, and how we are self-healing and self-directing our way out of it and into our greatest potential.

Once completed, please upload the video to your YouTube channel and name it:

“(Your First Name) from (Your state or country)- “Thank You John Taylor Gatto”,

Then email me the URL at ThankYou@JohnTaylorGatto.com , which I will add to the master playlist.

INVITATION Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtL5xzWQVho

My Video SNOWBALL IS HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftN8S5ZV6aU&feature=youtu.be

LIKE it on FB: https://www.facebook.com/ThankYouJohnTaylorGattoSnowball

David J. Rodriguez

Editor

What question would you like to ask John Taylor Gatto?

For your question to be considered, please review these guidelines:

1. If you are asking a question that pertains to your family and/or children, please be sure to include the gender(s), age(s), personality, and interests of each person. (If you feel the retelling of a pertinent backstory or experience would be valuable for John to know in order to offer a useful response, please include that information as well.)
2.    Don’t ask more than one question
   3. Don’t ask if you already know the answer
   4. Don’t ask him to predict the future
   5. Don’t ask rhetorical questions, or use a question to state a position or to be silly; otherwise, ask anything

Since his boyhood, John has had eclectic interests; from earliest his recollections he has been interested in everything under the
sun, but does not claim expertise in everything (if anything!); however, he is interested and willing to render candid opinions in any area one prefers (except medical advice), as long as one agrees to take his response to a question as merely a personal opinion, rendered free of charge or hidden agenda.

Send your question to: askjohn@johntaylorgatto.com

Due to his energy limitations, every question will not be answered, but all questions are welcome.

John’s newest book release is soon in 2015:

“The Underground History of American Education”

Foreword by Ron Paul, M.D., Former U.S. Congressman & Candidate for President of the United States of America. Afterword Richard Grove of https://www.TragedyAndHope.com. Introduction by David Ruenzel.

Get a free newsletter at: https://www.JohnTaylorGatto.com