In Search of Clarity, Part II

Professor J,

As for the history books, I wasn't speaking in terms of textbooks (although aren't even those written from someone's point of view, unless they are just dry lists of facts?), but of the narrative non-fiction and biographies that this woman seemed to be looking for.

I suppose that "private exploitation" could be an equal danger; I was thinking in terms of our public school system. Can you give an example of how it's relevant there? Perhaps I'm thinking too narrowly.

Intellectual tyranny/public authority: I was referring to the public education "provided by" (home school advocates would say "forced upon children by") the state. Compulsory attendance laws, school zoning, and lack of choice for parents in curriculum, are all examples of the authorities imposing their will upon families. The Founders mostly didn't see the need for it, and De Tocqueville was impressed with the level of knowledge of the average American without it. We do see Jefferson mention it, but I'm guessing he didn't have in mind the Prussian model (designed there to thwart critical thinking) we ended up with.

The idea at the time of public schooling providing English for a massive influx of immigrants, as well as partly being driven by the needs of the industrial revolution, is understandable. But if people had known more about the philosophies of those pushing it hardest, I wonder if they would have decided on some other plan for solving those problems.

I would certainly consider the lack of focus in the average American school, on history and especially the great men who established our form of government, to be a form of intellectual tyranny. But in a broader sense, one could say that deciding what people think about and how long they can think about it is a form of control. Of course this is only possible because people mistakenly believe that education is something that must be provided to them by someone else. How often do we hear someone complain that they were denied an education because they didn't get this scholarship or that grant. To my way of thinking, the overriding misconception that knowledge must be imparted in a specific way or by a specific organization (and a unionized one at that) is dangerous.

Recently, in a conversation with a fellow traveler about some current events, I was dismissed out of hand when my response to his question about what my degree was in was that I didn't have one. That Sir, feels very much like intellectual tyranny.

Comment from my son on that: "Mom, no one cares how smart you are or that you've read a lot of books. The only thing that matters is the piece of paper." (Is this what we are teaching?)

I haven't read Hightower but I'm always interested in those who are willing to attack both sides, in an effort to expose truth.