My high school experience Vs. Gatto's claims

In John Gattos essay “Against School: How public education cripples our kids, and why.” His negative opinion about the public school system is boldly apparent. He describes public schools as “virtual factories of childishness,” and compares school to a prison like environment. Unfortunately, this is all too accurate. The two years I spent in public high school was similar to what Gattos describes in his essay. Boredom and a feeling of being trapped was part of the everyday reality of sitting in a classroom. I was not enthused, therefore I started to fall behind, and therefore I felt like the teachers had given up on me, therefore I started to fall even further behind. I agree with Gatto when he talks about schools shaping children into virtually, the same person. I fell off the conveyer belt of the public school system, and in result I could not be what the teachers and faculty wanted me to be. Because of this, I started to believe that I wasn’t as smart or capable as the rest of my peers. I started to desperately lack faith in myself. In my junior year of high school, I started to attend a private school wherein students had more freedom to learn about the things they truly enjoyed. This was great because I was surrounded by people who were actually eager and excited to learn. I was able to make learning exciting for myself, while at the same time learn valuable life skills such as time management, and self-motivation. I am glad I had the opportunity to experience the best and worst of high school. I can easily see where Gatto’s opinion of the public school system stems. Boredom of students and teachers, repetitiveness, and unoriginality is the common factor among most public high schools. “The solution, I think, is simple and genius.” Gatto says, “Let them manage themselves.”