The Assault on American Excellence, Anthony T. Kronman, author and narrator
Anthony Kronman is a professor at Yale who has been startled by the school’s acquiescence to activists. He believes that schools should educate minds before encouraging the students to act on issues they cannot fully understand. He understands that certain issues are triggers for some groups and might make them feel uncomfortable, but he believes that in order to educate the mind and allow the cream to rise to the top, a student must be challenged with ideas that force them to think, even if it makes them uncomfortable. In social situations, he understands the need for fairness, equality and comfort, but in the classroom, he believes it is more important to deal with controversy by studying it, rather than ignoring it or erasing it. There is a democracy of the community but an aristocracy of the mind.
Kronman cites several instances of controversy which he finds difficult to comprehend. Some concern the idea of appropriate/inappropriate Halloween costumes, another is the idea of offensive speech and/or behavior that is offensive because it triggers a memory of something the student might not have even experienced but is still uncomfortable thinking about, then there is the controversial effort to remove historic statues because something in that person’s past that is being memorialized is found to be offensive to some, while another is the removal of the term Master from the school because some students felt it is a negative trigger hearkening back to the time of slavery, even though the way in which the term is being used indicates superior achievement and not the master/slave concept. The term in the environment of Yale, had nothing to do with that shameful part of our history. The Halloween costume controversy actually caused the removal of two beloved educators who chose to leave after being attacked and is a sad result of narrow minds.
Kronman makes the case for the aristocracy of the mind, rather than the aristocracy of the social classes, by citing the thoughts of many historic authorities and philosophers, like Babbits, Holmes, DeToqueville, Mencken, Nietsche and many more, revealing their quotes, ideas and explanations. He explains how the cream should rise to the top and be rewarded in an educational environment in order to allow the best and the brightest to succeed, while also allowing those not quite so intellectually gifted the opportunity to improve and achieve good results. We are all socially equal, but we are not intellectually equal, therefore there is a value to allowing the idea of encouraging inequality in the educational environment without which we might all be content being mediocre.
The message I received from the book is that while diversity in all areas of life is to be aspired to on the campus and in the greater world, so that people from all walks of life learn to live together in peace and harmony, it is also necessary to be able to tolerate a diversity of thought so that critical thinking is the end result rather than an emotionally immature student body that cannot deal with reality and must all think alike so that success is not valued.
The author narrated his own novel. I believe that was a mistake since his voice droned on in a monotone, often sounding hoarse and without energy. Without a hard copy, one would be hard pressed to truly take in and absorb the entire book.