Dropping School Doesn't Mean Dropping Education - John Taylor Gatto

“Dropping school does not mean dropping education. That's the real lesson.”

Source: John Taylor Gatto TV YouTube channnel.

Transcript:

On April the 27^th, 2007, so less than two years ago, national headlines announced the firing of MIT's famous Director of Admissions Mary Lee Jones. She had been dismissed and disgraced after 28 years of splendid service, in which she earned MIT's highest honors. Jones was a specialist at female recruitment. During her long tenure, she tripled the number of women at MIT. She was hailed from coast to coast among the Admissions Fraternity. Press questioning of MIT students at the time of her dismissal called her beloved, almost revered, and irreplaceable. I took that from the Wall Street Journal story.

So why was she canned? Molestation of students? Selling MIT secrets to Microsoft? No, none of the above. Some diligent snoop had discovered that the college degree she claimed at the time of her hiring 28 years earlier were fakes. Uuuh! She had actually been, if I gave you a thousand guesses no one in this room would come close – I wouldn't either, she had actually been a nightclub torch singer in upstate New York country western night clubs, until the moment MIT took her in. Why anyone with a good job like that would wish … anyway!

MIT Chancellor Phillip Clay told reporters the door was now closed forever on another torch singer in admissions. Quote: “In future, we will take a big lesson from this experience.” Now, what lesson might that be? It couldn't be the obvious lesson that degrees are only magical talismans. They promise nothing, and only meritorious performance is a proper measure of quality. Couldn't be that! What degree should we give bureaucrat Clay for costing MIT a brilliant colleague that added great value to the school? The colossal jerk degree? Dropping school does not mean dropping education. That's the real lesson.