Category: Books

None Dare Call It Education is a book that I was recently required to read for a Master’s class that I was taking. The book was written by John Stormer. I was familiar with Dr. Stormer from my high school days. I remember our church had a pile of his previous book None Dare Call it Treason. But, I never read Treason and though I was familiar with the book on education during my college days, I never got around to reading it.

I wrote in my paper as a summary:

In None Dare Call it Education John Stormer outlines dangerous trends in the educationlal system and the significance of them. Throughout the book he shows how certain philosophies are played out in the classroom as well as current names of these philosophies. He leaves the reader with not just a bunch of philosophical facts, but tells how, specifically, the individual can fight these trends in their own community.

He spends quite a bit of time giving examples of how worldly educational philosophy is eroding traditional family values. Though he paints a pretty grim picture of what can happen in the public school system today, it is important to remember that each child is an individual. If you lose your child to a wicked worldly system, you only had one chance to get it right.

I would encourage any parent who is interested in their child’s education and making sure their child is not only educated well, but also with traditional values, to take time to read this book.

Dr. Stormer does not leave the reader with no hope. There is a whole section at the back of the book dedicated to ideas and resources which can help you turn the system around in your area. It really is an encouraging book in that he does a good job in equipping the parent who sees hope and wants to make a difference.

This from the book: The Road Ahead published in 1995. From chapter 3 titled: Lessons From The Computer Industry.

When you have a hot product, investors pay attention to you and are willing to put their money into your company. Smart kids think, Hey, everybody’s talking about this company. I’d like to work there. When one smart person comes to a company, soon another does, because talented people like to work with each other. This creates a sense of excitement. Potential partners and customers pay more attention, and the spiral continues, making the next success easier.

Conversely, there is a negative spiral companies can get caught in, A company in a positive spiral has an air of destiny, while one in a negative spiral feels doomed. If a company starts to lose market share or delivers one bad product, the talk becomes “Why do you work there?” “Why would you invest in that company?” “I don’t think you should buy from them.” The press and analysts smell blood and begin telling inside stories about who’s quarreling and who’s responsible for mismanagement. Customers begin to question whether, in the future, they should continue to buy the company’s products. Within a sick company everything is questioned, including things that are being done well. Even a fine strategy can get dismissed with the argument “You are just defending the old way,” and that can cause more mistakes. Then down the company spirals. Leaders such as Lee Iacocca who have been able to reverse a negative spiral deserve a lot of credit.

I found the quote humorous 12 year after it was written. Microsoft is now the company that is languishing with the world wanting to know “who’s quarreling and who’s responsible for mismanagement” at the mother ship.

I found this book in the local library. It had been donated, but had not yet made it to the shelves. It is a first edition, first printing. Funny, but I cannot imagine there needing to be a second or third printing. I do know there were other editions.

I read the book back about 10 years ago. It is interesting to read it now. If you don’t know about the book, he basically looks at “the information highway” and tries to predict where we will be 10 years in the future. I am only on chapter 3 right now, but it has been interesting the thing he has gotten right, and humorous the things he has missed horribly.

I plan to give some examples along the way as I read this. In the mean time, i found this “10 years later” review.

I had to read several books for a class I took recently. I wanted to give you a quick review of some of them.

This first book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah was the main book in the class. The class, by the way, was History and Philosophy of Education from a Christian Perspective. The book was used as a launch point for our main paper. It is written by Robert H. Bork. Those a bit older than me remember him for the hotly contested Senate debate as to whether he should become a Supreme Court Justice under appointment by President Reagan (I don’t remember this at all, but all my older friends do).

The book starts out necessarily slow and difficult. I say necessarily because you really have to have an understanding of terms like “Modern Liberalism” to follow what he is driving at in the book. If you could somehow skip the first section of the book and get into the meat of it, the book would be much easier to read. In fact, once I did finish that section, I really did have problems putting the book down. It took me several months to trudge through that first section (I was not too persistent) which covers about 120 pages. The next 250 pages I read in 4 days.

At that point (part 2) you move into the examples of how modern liberalism plays out in today’s society. There are many interesting examples and case studies that he walks the reader through. It is definitely worth making it through the first section to arrive at parts 2 and 3.

His basic premise is found on page 5 and says: “The defining characteristics of modern liberalism are radical egalitarianism (the equality of outcomes rather than of opportunities) and radical individualism (the drastic reduction of limits to personal gratification).”

Though “equality” and “individualism” seem to be opposite terms to describe a philosophy, he goes on to explain that equality is sought in areas of competition and merit whereas individualism is used in the pursuit of pleasure and arts where there is no competition. Equality is sought in schools and in the work force. As a radical liberal you cannot allow for one person to excel over another. This is where Affirmative Action, Outcome Based Education and Political Correctness have their basis. Individualism comes into areas of euthanasia and abortion.

The ideals that the US is built upon (i.e.: ability to work hard and get ahead as well as the right to own your own property) are negated with radical egalitarianism. We all must be the same. If someone is smarter, or stronger, or prettier, he should be held back so those who cannot excel in those areas have an equal outcome. This is not about equal opportunity. Opportunity should be equal for everyone. But the outcome should be based on the individual. You cannot expect a person with an I.Q. of 50 to compete in business like a person with an I.Q. of 125. They should both be allowed to try, but the outcome should be based on their abilities. But, not in the mind of someone who fights for radical egalitarianism.

Radical individualism brings about chaos. When everyone is allowed to live as an individual without being subject to order and reason, you end up with chaos. This individuality, of course, cannot overstep the bounds of other people’s equality.

I did not like the way the author made certain assumptions about the reader. It was like the book was written for the 55+ crowd. I did not grow up in the 50s and 60s. I don’t know who the Black Panthers are. And, it was never explained in the book. There are several references to groups and movements from the 50s to 70s that were totally lost on me. A few lines to explain groups like the Black Panthers would have gone a long way to helping younger readers. I am 37, so no spring chicken, but there were many references that I just did not understand in the book.

All in all, it was a good read. I have heard about the book for several years and was glad to be forced to finally read it. I may have eventually gotten around to reading it anyway, but this was as good a time as any. Plus, I get college credit for it this way.

Published in 1996. The edition I read was updated in 2003. Harper Collins. 418 pages. You can click on the picture of the book to be taken to Amazon.com’s website about the book.