The Loss of Self-Sufficiency
The Loss of Self-Sufficiency and the Rise of “Permanent Children”: A Reflection on John Taylor Gatto’s Vision
““This was once a land where every sane person knew how to build a shelter, grow food, and entertain one another. Now we have been rendered permanent children. It’s the architects of forced schooling who are responsible for that.””
In his provocative quote from Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, educator John Taylor Gatto critiques the effects of compulsory schooling on society, arguing that it has distanced us from essential life skills and created a population that is dependent, unquestioning, and disconnected. Once, as he describes, people commonly knew how to provide for themselves and their communities—building shelters, growing food, and creating meaningful ways to spend time with each other. Now, however, these basic life skills are no longer common knowledge, and the loss has brought about more than just an absence of self-sufficiency.
Gatto’s words resonate with the sentiment that our educational institutions have morphed from places of genuine learning and skill development into structures that foster dependency and conformity. To him, the architects of modern schooling have not merely provided education but have engineered an entire population’s reliance on external systems. This system, he argues, strips people of the confidence to tackle fundamental tasks on their own, turning them into what he calls “permanent children.”
The Shift from Self-Reliance to Dependence
Historically, humans have been able to survive and thrive through a range of skills necessary for sustenance, shelter, and social life. These skills weren't just practical—they were life-affirming, connecting people to their communities and environments. Gatto points to how modern education has drifted from these life-sustaining practices and emphasizes instead a strict, predefined curriculum that often leaves graduates with limited practical know-how. Over generations, the accumulation of lost skills leaves people vulnerable, needing to depend on a complex infrastructure to fulfill even the most basic needs.
In this context, “permanent children” refers to adults who may have been taught advanced subjects but lack essential life skills or self-sufficiency. These adults, often products of a lifetime in school, are educated in certain intellectual pursuits but left practically unprepared to handle basic aspects of everyday life independently. This lack of self-reliance is a subtle, yet profound, form of control, as it binds people to reliance on external sources of support—like corporate food systems, commercial entertainment, and pre-packaged shelter solutions—rather than fostering communities where members contribute, collaborate, and create.
The “Hidden Curriculum” of Schooling
Gatto’s book reveals what he calls the “hidden curriculum” of compulsory schooling: conformity, obedience, and passivity. The daily routines of school encourage students to internalize schedules, adhere to authority figures, and stay within the confines of a standardized system. In the long run, students learn to operate within these boundaries but seldom think to question or push beyond them. Gatto suggests that this kind of education discourages innovation and self-initiated learning, creating a cycle where each new generation grows up accepting the confines set for them rather than exploring what lies beyond.
The “hidden curriculum” also suggests that schools, instead of encouraging students to discover their interests and develop critical life skills, largely impart knowledge that is rarely applicable outside of an academic or corporate context. By conditioning students to rely on others for guidance, schooling perpetuates a dependence that lasts into adulthood, steering society away from true independence and reinforcing the “permanent children” state Gatto so passionately condemns.
Reclaiming Self-Sufficiency and Community
The antidote to this imposed dependence lies in reviving the very skills and freedoms Gatto laments as lost. By learning, or re-learning, how to provide shelter, grow food, and create entertainment within our communities, people can reclaim agency over their lives. This shift also requires rethinking how we educate ourselves and our children. What would education look like if it prioritized skills that encouraged independence, resilience, and genuine critical thinking?
Homeschooling, unschooling, and experiential learning programs have gained traction as alternatives to traditional schooling and present valuable models. These approaches focus on practical skills, creative thinking, and real-world experience over rote memorization or standardized testing, aligning with Gatto’s vision of an education that enables rather than constrains. And this is exactly why we’re building A Place To Be.
Moving Beyond “Permanent Childhood”
Gatto’s critique of forced schooling reveals a deep discomfort with a system that educates people only enough to function within its own limitations. He invites us to question the larger purpose of education: is it merely to create compliant adults who fit neatly into a predefined system, or is it to cultivate individuals who can question, create, and contribute meaningfully to the world?
Our challenge, then, is to honor Gatto’s vision by re-engaging with the skills and values that foster true independence and critical thought. By reconnecting with nature, learning essential skills, and encouraging each other to think independently, we can move beyond the “permanent childhood” that Gatto so fervently warns against. In doing so, we take a meaningful step toward a future where individuals are not only educated but empowered.
