I agree with your response as well as the article. Teachers have so many guide lines and rules and are constantly watched! As an upcoming student teacher I am very nervous about the objectives and end of course testing. I feel that I am going to shorten certain, interesting parts of history because of the time restrictions that are in place. I feel that the author is also fed up with the system as a whole. It is a system where everything is uniform and people are not uniform.
I do not think that Gatto is directing his hostility to teachers. I think he is very angry toward the system and thinks it should be changed. I agree with him that there is a problem and the No Child Left behind Act will be no solution to the problem.

I agree with Corrie as well on the Gatto reading. My mother has taught in a public school now for about 27 years. She has taught every grade from Kindergarten through sixth. I have really only witnessed her teaching kindergarten and fourth grade. She has taught kindergarten for most of her teaching career. However, two years ago she decided she wanted to make a change in her teaching experiences and she moved up to fourth grade. She taught there for a year and decided that she wanted to move back down to kindergarten. I asked her about it and she said that it wasn't the curriculum that was more difficult, but the testing. She said that the children no longer "want" to learn, because of the testing and the pressure put on them once they hit that grade level. Teaching kinders allows you to appreciate the children that come to school wanting to learn, with that little sparkle in their eye every morning. Fourth graders are tired of being taught text book to text book. And teachers are tired of worrying about teaching what will be on the tests!

I guess all that I am trying to get across is that the "higher-ups" that usually haven't even been in a classroom have no idea what they are talking about, however, they are the ones who are legally allowed to make the most important decisions in the classroom. Gatto definitly put it a lot better than I can, but I absolutely agree with what he has to say in this reading.