Antioch Road

Review: Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The problems Neil Postman wrote about in Amusing Ourselves to Death have been exacerbated in the 26 years since its publication. Postman posited that, at least in the western world, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (what we love will ruin us) -- not George Orwell's 1984 (what we hate will ruin us) -- was right.

Everything in our culture "has been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business." This not only affects how we converse and receive information, but how we think, and not in a good way. In short, technology is not neutral; television is destroying us. (Undoubtedly, Postman would say the internet is only making matters worse, if possible, for he begins his attack against the telegraph as having introduced "large scale irrelevance, impotence, and incoherence.")

Postman is not against entertainment (including television) altogether, he is against religion as entertainment. And politics as entertainment. He is against the way in which our image and video based culture has replaced our print-based culture, for the form of the medium -- in moderns times, the pervasive medium of television -- affects the content.

Postman applies his thesis to politics, religions, news, commerce, and education. Think Billy Graham versus George Whitfield. Think about what we call political debates today versus the Lincoln - Douglas debates. "You cannot do political philosophy on television. Its form works against the content." As a result, "the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense."

Television does this in a number of ways, including stripping away historical context, "ma[king] entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience," and inserting discontinuities that undermine coherence (e.g., a news report about war followed immediately by a report of a celebrity arrest).

If you are reading this book review about a book that promotes the virtues of a print-based culture, you may have already convinced yourself that television does more harm than good. If so, Postman's book will provide further clarity to your conviction. If not, you will never view television (or, frankly, the telegraph or newspapers) the same after reading this book.

The only thing missing from the book is a solution, though Postman is pessimistic that there is one. I share his pessimism, except at the family level.



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Mr. Scales Goes to School

If you send your kids to public school, how often are you sending them to this:

When asked about his substitute teaching experience during the off-season, minor-league baseball player Bobby Scales, currently in the Chicago Cubs spring training camp as a non-roster invitee, gave us the gist of his routine with his students:

"I'm Mr. Scales, for those of you who don't know me. Your teacher is not here today. Your assignment is on the board."

He then asks one of the students to take roll call.

He then asks another student to start a DVD.

"I'm going to be right here, reading the paper."

Says Mr. Scales about his off-season job, "It's so flexible, so easy."

Mr. Scales has been substitute "teaching" since 1999. During that same time period, he has played 871 minor league games without touching a major league diamond.

Support the Parental Rights Amendment

My wife and I attended the annual Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators conference this past June 8-9. One of the keynote speakers was Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association and of Patrick Henry College. He is promoting a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution called the Parental Rights Amendment. You can learn more about the amendment, and the need for it, here.

The proposed Amendment expressly sets forth the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children. The United States Supreme Court has in the past ruled that there is implied in the Constitution such a right. However, there are justices on the current Supreme Court who would likely overturn those decisions if given the chance. Additionally, "international law" may one day intefere with our parental rights and duties. For instance, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by just about every country but ours. Courts in other countries have used this treaty to prevent parents from directing the upbringing of their children. A number of the current presidential candidates likely support this treaty. The proposed Amendment would prevent the treaty, if the United States ever ratifies it, from trumping our parental rights and duties.

This amendment will help protect your parental rights whether you send your children to public school or private school or if you homeschool. For instance, there are circuit court of appeals opinions that have held that once you drop your children off at the school house door, the school has absolute control over what your children are taught.

If you are interested in supporting this constitutional amendment, you can sign up to join ParentalRights.org (the dues are $25). Or, you can sign up to be a citizen co-sponsor of the amendment for free, here.

An audience member asked Michael Farris which presidential candidates supported the Parental Rights Amendment. He said that Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback were strongly leaning toward supporting it. No other candidate had made a commitment.

57th Carnival of Homeschooling

The 57th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at PalmTree Pundit, and includes my review of Chris Klicka's Home Schooling: The Right Choice.

Carnival of Homeschooling #56 Highlights

The 56th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at The Thinking Mother. Here are a few of my favorite posts:

• Homeschooling Hints discusses the flexibility of home schooling: You can take school on the road.

• The Open Door writes about the benefits of home schooling to the parents. I especially like #5: "My son still thinks I'm cool."

• Introducing the World writes about teaching Shakespeare (something my wife and I may need to relearn).

• New Covenant notes that our children need to learn more than fun technology, but useful technology. Specifically, useful software applications.

• The Imperfect Homeschooler informs us that home schooling allows us to raise children who are not peer-dependent and who thus do not become peer-dependent adults, using the amusing story of parents concerned about one-upping each other for their kids' birthday parties.

Book Review: Home Schooling: The Right Choice, by Christopher Klicka

Before I had children, I admired parents who home schooled their children. It is something that I wanted to do for my (eventual, at the time) children, but did not know if we would be able. Once Hannah was born on April 8, 2004, home schooling her and our future children weighed more and more on our minds. In time, my wife and I became convinced together that home schooling was the right choice for us. That my wife and I had the same conviction was essential. As the primary teacher, my wife had to be dedicated to the decision. At the same time, my wife's dedication would undoubtedly waver if I did not provide the necessary support.

It was after we had made the decision to home school our children that we attended the 2006 Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) annual conference and heard Chris Klicka speak. Klicka is Senior Counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association. We were struck by his love of the Lord, his sincerity, and his in depth knowledge (built through personal experience) of the home school movement. He is an excellent, inspiring speaker who has also written the excellent book Home Schooling: The Right Choice.

Originally published in 1995 and updated in 2000, Home Schooling is less a defense of home schooling than it is an argument for why you, too, should home school. In one of his speeches at the NICHE conference, Klicka made the point that the most important job we have as parents is to raise our children to know and love Jesus. In Home Schooling, Klicka makes the point that we cannot expect our children to think and act like Christians if they spend their whole day, five days a week, in an environment that teaches them to think and act like a secular humanist.

Home Schooling begins with an indictment of public schools, underscoring its propositional rather than defensive nature. Public schools, in general, are failing our children academically, morally, and philosophically. Particularly enlightening is chapter 3's recitation of the express goals of the founders of state education and of the professors at education colleges and the subsequent manifestation of those goals.

But all of that is just why you should avoid public schools. In Parts II and III, Klicka affirmatively addresses why you should home school. Klicka notes the Biblical principles supporting home schooling, the benefits of home schooling, and the large number of influential Americans who were home schooled. He also sets forth practical steps to successful home schooling--providing the encouragement you need to realize that you can do it--as well as the success home schoolers have in college.

Home Schooling goes on to recite the victories won against those with an interest in a public school monopoly. The victories have come in both the legislative and judicial branches. Klicka has firsthand knowledge of many of them and some of them have been truly miraculous. Included in these sections is a thorough, but easy to understand recitation of home schoolers' rights.

The book also includes a number of helpful appendices, including "The Difference Between Christian Education and Humanistic Education," "Fifteen Reasons to Home School Your Teenagers," and "The Social Worker Skit: How to Handle a Visit From a Social Worker."

Throughout the book, Klicka effectively refutes each of the criticisms directed toward home schooling. Given the documented success of home schoolers versus their public and private schooled peers, no one can legitimately claim academic deficiencies as a basis for opposing home schooling. What about socialization? The question is too simple. What kind of socialization is preferable? As a wise person once told me, proper socialization comes from modeling adults, not other children. The public school environment is an artificial one where our children only interact with, save their teacher, other kids their age. No other setting in society is like that.

The one criticism of the book that I can muster is Klicka's reliance on substantive due process arguments for the constitutional right to home school. "Substantive" due process (an oxymoron) is the underpinning of the U.S. Supreme Court's created right to abortion. Clearly, as an attorney in a court of law defending home schoolers, Klicka should latch onto anything the Supreme Court has given him, but in a book dealing with home schooling history and long-term strategies going forward, substantive due process is not something to rely on. It was made up out of thin air and could vanish just as easily, or could be applied arbitrarily.

In any event, Home Schooling is the perfect book for people already home schooling who will be encouraged that they have made the right decision and will gain a greater appreciation of the sacrifices those who started home schooling in the 1980s made, for people thinking about home schooling but are not sure they can do it, and for people trying to understand why their friends and family are home schooling rather than doing what just about everyone else does. It will remain a valuable part of my library.

Carnival of Homeschooling #31 Highlights: Summer School and "The Question"

The 31st Carnival of Homeschooling is up at PHAT Mommy (yes, that's really the name of her blog). A couple of posts that I particularly enjoyed:

• Life in a Shoe discusses the benefit of schooling year round, with smaller breaks, instead of one large break during the summer.

• Fire in Mine Ears, a recent homeschool graduate, discusses "The Question." "Where did you go to school?" I enjoyed this post in part because this particular homeschooled student writes better than most students in grad school.

Carnival of Homeschooling: Week #28

I just learned that there is a regular blog carnival on homeschooling. Here is the most recent version, published at Why Homeschool. (Hat tip: Stuart Buck.)

A couple of my favorite posts from the carnival:

• Dow Blog discusses socialization: "I'm not exactly clear how tossing a child into a group of his peers all day long is the best way to bring out his potential. Ultimately, parents have the responsibility to raise children to honor and glorify of God." As a wise person once told me, proper socialization comes from modeling responsible adults, not other children.
• Principled Discovery discusses America's addiction to standardized tests.

Bringing, the Bible, Sort Of, Back to Public Schools

USA Today's Mike Linn reports that "High schools across the nation are considering an elective course in Bible literacy." The course is "based on the textbook The Bible and Its Influence."

USA Today quotes Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, as saying about the book, "They've done a Herculean effort to make it as constitutional as they could."

That's code for 1) you won't be able to smell a hint of the gospel in this book, and 2) it very well may be the most boring book you've ever read.

On the other hand, "[t]he textbook does have critics, including Americans United for the Separation of Church and State." Wow. I didn't see that one coming. I guess if they're against it (no other critics are named), it can't be that bad of a book.

Learning to Write Better

As a civil litigation attorney, I often have to wade through the writings of opposing counsel. More frequently than you would imagine, that writing is subpar. (If there is one thing law schools should make sure their students know before graduating them, it's how to avoid passive voice constructions.) The kicker is, sometimes I'll review a brief or memo I wrote six months back and think, boy, I could have written that much more clearly and clearly.

To all of us, an aid, courtesy of Roy Jacobsen of Dispatches from Outland. Mr. Jacobsen has started a new blog titled Writing, Clear and Simple. Lo and behold, tips on writing in active voice was the first post on the new site. Because writing is such a big part of my job and a big part of my recreation, I look forward to many more such tips.