> Does anyone have insights into Gatto's credibility?

I don't, but I like it that way. I get to judge the man and the merits of his essays and arguments on their own. In that light, he makes very compelling cases. He certainly writes like a man who knows what he is talking about. My favorite is his essay that describes the whole premise of the school system was to raise factory workers that were not too dumb, not too smart to think for themselves -- echoed by George Carlin in many of his stand up routines