Faculty Jacobin
Jul 27, 2017 · 1 min read

You’re punching above your weight class in attacking Watters, and the ad hominem nature of much of your criticism doesn’t help your cause. In a Twitter discussion on this matter, you accuse Watters of being unaware of John Taylor Gatto’s Underground History (“It’s not clear she knows it exists.) but you seem to have missed her direct reference to his work in her piece.

In claiming that Watters has “given ammunition to regressive forces in education” you also seem to have missed the point of her argument, and in fact the point of her body of work in general. The last two paragraphs of her essay would be well worth a re-read. Watters is concerned about the rhetorical misuse of the “factory model of education” because she is concerned that problems of control and standardization will remain entrenched in American education, only in the 21st century those forces will be driven by, and serve the interests of, the for-profit tech sector.

You’ve attacked an ally in the cause of progressive educational reform, but fortunately the method and substance of the attack make it ineffective. I urge you to read Watters’ work more broadly and carefully.

    Faculty Jacobin

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    Independent school teacher. Adjunct college instructor. Gadfly.