I read “Underground History of American Education” in 2000 or so. I made my kids buy it for me for Christmas. I actually was a little skeptical of John Taylor Gatto’s premise, then, I was so naive and needed more philosophy/psychology classes.
As the Wundtians “think”: “One does not educate machines, one adjusts them”.
I taught my children to be independent thinkers, to always challenge authority but to do it respectfully. Ironically, they took on the system and became scientists.