Chad McCail
Compulsory Education
Chad McCail’s ‘Compulsory Education’ addresses the history of compulsory education using an abbreviated graphic language augmented by text. Situated in a location passed by numerous schoolchildren, his aim is to show a work that asks these schoolchildren to examine and reassess the nature of their experiences at a time when the value of compulsory education goes unquestioned. Chad draws inspiration for his work from John Taylor Gatto’s 2006 book The Underground History of American Education, in which Gatto traces the origins of mass compulsory education in nineteenth century Prussia, and its links to delivering obedient soldiers and citizens.
