Thursday, August 28, 2008

William F. Buckley's 'God and Man at Yale.' What Have Rich Parents Learned Since 1951? Not Much. by Gary North

Good review by Gary North of a classic book. Makes me want to read it.


When Massachusetts' Horace Mann in the 1830s began to proclaim the concept of the public school as an agency of personal virtue and social redemption, his timing was perfect. The state of Massachusetts had abandoned tax support of Congregational churches in 1833. The public school soon became America's only established church...

The common creed of the public schools was Unitarian and moralistic: salvation by good public works...

the defense of academic neutrality is a myth. Faculties screen themselves. For example, they do not hire defenders of Aryan racial supremacy...

The researcher requires freedom of inquiry because he does not know what his research will produce. But when he supports himself as a teacher, he cannot legitimately claim the same kind of immunity from those who fund his teaching. Yet he does make this claim...

Men want to receive money with no strings attached. This includes the faculty members of every institution of higher learning...

The critics did for God and Man at Yale what a later generation of critics did for The Passion of the Christ. They turned it into a phenomenon by means of their preposterous accusations and off-the-wall rhetoric. Their strategy backfired...

Anyone who seeks to call into question the legitimacy of the alma mater is calling into question the reflected glory on its alumni. This is a futile effort...

Buckley established his conservative bona fides with God and Man at Yale. Never again did one of his books have an impact to rival this one...


William F. Buckley's 'God and Man at Yale.' What Have Rich Parents Learned Since 1951? Not Much. by Gary North

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