--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Independent study, community service…" description: "\"“Independent study, community service, adventures and experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships — the one-d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/648/john-taylor-gatto-4736_adventure_independent-study-community-service-adve_899197.jpg" --- # Independent study, community service, adventures and… ![“Independent study, community service, adventures and experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships — the one-day variety or longer — these are all powerful, cheap, and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever…” quote by John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/648/john-taylor-gatto-4736_adventure_independent-study-community-service-adve_899197.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/648/john-taylor-gatto-4736_adventure_independent-study-community-service-adve_899197.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/648/john-taylor-gatto-4736_adventure_independent-study-community-service-adve_899197.jpg) > ““Independent study, community service, adventures and experience, large doses of privacy and solitude, a thousand different apprenticeships — the one-day variety or longer — these are all powerful, cheap, and effective ways to start a real reform of schooling. But no large-scale reform is ever going to work to repair our damaged children and our damaged society until we force open the idea of “school” to include family as the main engine of education. If we use schooling to break children away from parents — and make no mistake, that has been the central function of schools since John Cotton announced it as the purpose of the Bay Colony schools in 1650 and Horace Mann announced it as the purpose of Massachusetts schools in 1850 — we’re going to continue to have the horror show we have right now.”” [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education reform must broaden beyond schools to include families, as schools historically separate children from parents, leading to societal problems. **In simple terms:** Education should involve families, not just schools. Key Takeaway Reintegrate family into learning. Themes education family reform history society Mood concerned critical hopeful Type analytical persuasive When to use this quote - home schooling - community projects - after‑school programs - parent‑child learning - policy advocacy Key Concepts social contract institutional inertia parental involvement Questions to Reflect On - How can families be supported to become effective educators? - What structures can balance school and family roles? A Different Perspective Families may lack resources or expertise to replace school functions fully. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adventure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adventure/) [Community service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community-service/) [Cybersecurity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cybersecurity/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horace-mann/) [Massachusetts Schools](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/massachusetts-schools-1224558/) [Purpose Massachusetts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose-massachusetts-1224557/) [Reform Schooling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reform-schooling-1224556/) [Right now](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-now/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [Schooling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/schooling/) [Use Schooling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/use-schooling-1224559/) ## Related quotes > [Schools were designed by Horace Mann and Barnard Sears and Harper of the University of Chicago and Thorndyke of Columbia Teachers College and some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/schools-were-designed-by-horace-mann-and-barnard-sears-and-harper-of/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [In 1847 I gave an address at Newton, Mass., before a Teachers' Institute conducted by Horace Mann. 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Seek yourself in smiles of the world, You shall emerge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/seek-yourself-in-the-joy-of-neighbors-you-shall-know-the-meaning-of/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [It’s worth noting that you can devote your life to community service and be a total schmuck. You can spend your life on Wall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/it-s-worth-noting-that-you-can-devote-your-life-to-community-service/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [“There is an overflowing grace, for every great work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/there-is-an-overflowing-grace-for-every-great-work/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“We have grace of strength to work, to clear our cities of any dirt.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/we-have-grace-of-strength-to-work-to-clear-our-cities-of-any-dirt/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) ## More by John Taylor Gatto > [If you live in a material universe where acquiring things is very important to you, then family is an absolute deterrent to maintaining that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/if-you-live-in-a-material-universe-where-acquiring-things-is-very/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/we-could-encourage-the-best-qualities-of-youthfulness-curiosity/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [There isn't a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as there are fingerprints.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/there-isn-t-a-right-way-to-become-educated-there-are-as-many-ways-as/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/the-truth-is-that-schools-don-t-really-teach-anything-except-how-to/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [“Any economy in which the most common tasks are the shuffling of paper, the punching of buttons, and the running of mouths isn’t an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/any-economy-in-which-the-most-common-tasks-are-the-shuffling-of-paper/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [This was once a land where every sane person knew how to build a shelter, grow food, and entertain one another. Now we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/this-was-once-a-land-where-every-sane-person-knew-how-to-build-a/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [Self-knowledge is the only basis of true knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/self-knowledge-is-the-only-basis-of-true-knowledge/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [Schools were designed by Horace Mann and Barnard Sears and Harper of the University of Chicago and Thorndyke of Columbia Teachers College and some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/schools-were-designed-by-horace-mann-and-barnard-sears-and-harper-of/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [You need experience, adventure, and explorations more than you need algebra!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/you-need-experience-adventure-and-explorations-more-than-you-need/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [A lot of the strings that hold us like puppets are really inventions of our own minds. I'm not saying that there aren't armies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/a-lot-of-the-strings-that-hold-us-like-puppets-are-really-inventions/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [Is there an idea more radical in the history of the human race than turning your children over to total strangers whom you know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/is-there-an-idea-more-radical-in-the-history-of-the-human-race-than/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. 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I've also done some gravity tests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-ve-used-the-phoenix-centrifuge-to-replicate-what-the-body-s-going/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [I am attracted to looking at the different things language can mean even in one sometimes quite ordinary utterance. Writing is partly about listening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rae-armantrout/i-am-attracted-to-looking-at-the-different-things-language-can-mean/) [Rae Armantrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rae-armantrout/) > [What a thrill. 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