Authoritarianism, wrote Erich Fromm, is not just about dominating and controlling others; it’s also about subordinating oneself to a “great” person, institution, or idea. In the eyes of John Elmore, traditional, compulsory mass schooling in the U.S. fosters the development of authoritarian personality characteristics in young people who, later in life, may enable, or actively support, the rise to power of autocrats.
Haworth and Elmore, eds., Out of the Ruins: The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces PM Press, 2017
For more in depth analysis of this, find the 5 hour interview with John Taylor Gatto on YouTube. Look for Underground History Lesson (please ignore the annoying interviewer).
Mr Gatto has also written many books on education, the most known being Dumbing Us Down.