John Gatto's 'Against School' -- Group 6, "Basic Functions"

In John Gatto's "Against School," he discusses the 'six basic functions' as outlined according to Inglis. 

1. The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.
• An example of this kind of a function is in the way challenges, such as disagreeing with, speaking against or questioning a teacher is responded to with punishment. From the time you are in elementary you learn that such behaviors are 'rude' and 'disrespectful,' and are reprimanded for such actions. Questioning a teacher during class is a great way to earn yourself a lecture or detention
  

2.      The integrating function. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.

o   All students in public schooling receive the same regiment of information—we learn the same things, from the same or similar teachers and are tested in the same way and graded on the same scale. This kind of inflexible environment can easily create students who know the same things, believe the same things and often think in the same way.

3.      The diagnostic and directive function. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one.

o   The way that students are tested and categorized, dividing students up based on performance, holding some back and promoting others based not necessarily by true ability but by the way they test and grade is a good example of the diagnostic function.

4.      The differentiating function. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal bes.

o   This is exemplified by formulaic school progression: requirements of a certain list of credits, with required core curriculum and limited electives controls learning and advancement

5.       The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain.

o   People don’t care so much about grades anymore but conformity or lack thereof can isolate and differentiate social standing of students effectively

6.      The propaedeutic function. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.

•    Observe political attitude