john-taylor-gatto-weapons-of-mass-instruction

120 WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION
Physical Ugliness
You never hear among the common complaints against schooling that
it acts as a workshop to create physical and psychological ugliness, but
that's exactly what I'm going to say - the habits it inculcates lead to
ugliness in a culture where beauty and grace is much more important
than school allows you to know.
One great secret which you always suspected I'll confirm for you
right now: the physical appearance of human bodies is an important
sorting device at elite universities - if you're ugly, ungainly, unathletic,
ungraceful, your chances of admission at Yale or Stanford drop
almost to zero. Your physical appearance tells a sophisticated observer
a great deal about you and whether you might be worthy to carry the
institution's flag. Here is one of those hundreds of thousands of ideas
which school might spend its time examining, but as with much else,
it avoids treating entirely. In this case merely omitting discussion of
the ideas involved doesn't do the major damage, much more direct
methods are employed to tag you with the stigmata of failure which
ugliness signifies.
If you wanted general health and vigor in an oncoming generation,
would you enforce immobility on it for twelve to twenty years
Would you tie that immobility to constant stresses created by bells
and various threats Would you add to these handicaps the fat and
sugar-rich diet of school lunches or allow snack wagons and soda pop
vendors inside the school orbit Don't these provide a direct road to
overweight and obesity, ill health, weakness, gracelessness, vulgarity
and timidity
It has long been acknowledged that the most powerful prejudice
in America is our national hatred of fat people. This, even though
more citizens (and students) are fat here than anywhere else on earth.
The epidemic nature of this phenomenon robs a significant chunk
of graduates of our 12-year training programs in ugliness of dignity,
friends, opportunity, romance - it is among the most vicious weapons
of mass instruction. Your associates through life will forgive you
for being ignorant of quadratic questions - or the Leaning Tower