Squanto was considered a fishy character,nif not a traitor: “true NativenAmerican heroes are those who foughtnto preserve and protect their people’snfreedom and land.” Although PitzGeraldnfails to notice the erroneous assumptionnthat Indians constituted a singlennation or people, she has sense enoughnto see that American history cannot bentaught by attempting to Show the viewpointnof every real of alleged group.nHowever, she is handicapped by herninability to decide betv^een two fakendescriptions of America: ione, that itnis a “white, middle-clasiJ society”; thenother, that it is “multiracial attd multicultural.”nAs is often the case withnFitzGerald, there is confusion even innher categories; a society could be “middlenclass” and “multiracial and itiulticultural.”nIn discussing recent problems andnattacking the “back-to-basics” movement,nFitzGerald simply ignores reality.nShe flatly denies that there is any “hardnevidence” that the ability of AmericannThe Mystefies of Syntaxn& PunctuationnCyrus Colter: Night-Studies; ThenSwallow Press; GEicago;nby Gary S. VasilashnA few years ago, administratorsnand professors at institutions of highernlearning were put under scrutiny bynthe media. “Why can’t johnny read;nwhy can’t Jane write.”” were the questions.nWas it true that functional illiteratesnwere reposing within the ivycoverednwalls? Naturally, public attentionnhas been diverted elsewhere; thenNaderites are now busy attacking collegenentrance examinations. It’s interestingnMr. Vasilash is associate editor of M-WufacturingnEngineering magazine.nchildren to read and write and understandnmathematics has declined. It is,nof course, a well-known fact that standardntest scores have been declining fornover a decade and a half. But even if thisn”hard evidence” could somehow benwritten off, any college or high-schoolnteacher would testify to the increasingnunpreparedness of his students. Thoughnthe “back-to-basjcs” advocates may notnhave all the right solutrons, their viewsncannot be disftiissed as “conservative,npessimistic, nostalgic,” or as “an emotionalnquest for certainty iti an uncertainnworld,” which she links to annapparently sinister desire to preservenmiddle-class standards and values. Itnis no accident that, as she notes withoutncomprehension, the amount of illustrationnin textbooks is far greater todaynthan in the 1950’s. The proportion ofnpictures to text has been increased inna typically misguided attempt to compensatenfor the studetits’ declining abilitynto read. That is a silly way to copenwith the problem. Almost as silly, innfact, as America Revised, Dnto note, however, that during 1975- 76nthe administrators and professors werencomplaining that college entrance requirementsnwere becoming too lenient,nthat standards should be raised, notnlowered. Another comment often heardnbarian hordes that were laying wastento English departments across the land.nOne of the required courses for mynstudies was the teaching of freshmanncomposition. During one class session,nthe professor confessed that he oftenngraded compositions on Sunday nightsnwhile watching The Sonny and ChernShow. Unbelievable as it may seem, thenquality of some of those compositionsncould drive stronger men to do muchnworse. The students were (and probablynare) unable to write because theynwatched too much TV; the professornwas unable to grade without the soporificnescape of the screen.nCyrus Colter, author of Night Studies,nhas, according to the dust jacket ofnthat novel, “recently retired as professornemeritus at Northwestern University,nwhere he held the Chester D. TrippnDistinguished Chair in the Humanities.”nThe novel took some six yearsnto get into print. Taking Mr. Colter’snformer employment and the time frameninto account, I cannot help but wondernif he was watching a TV variety shownduring the composition of Night Studiesnor, what is more likely, the televisionnpresentation of Roots. That is, the firstnthing one notices about the book is thatnit is poorly written. Consider thenopening:nEnd and beginning. The Ray Charlesnconcert was over though it had beenn—and still was to be—a strange,nbizarre evening. It was the girl—nGriselda. For the last two hours,nthroughout most of the music, Mar-n. . well worth rtatling tur its sfopi’. di-pth i>t’ undiTMamiing. and itiort w rt-ali/itlionWJV-. ill which blacks and whilv.’: k-arr. in doal with thi-iv >.-onimon liumanily.”n— Puhlifbert Wcek/vnfrom these same people: too much timenwas being spent by students in front ofntelevision sets and not enough timenat studies.nDuring that period, I entered graduatenschool, giving serious thought to helpingnman the ramparts against the bar-nnnvin had sat so utterly distracted overnher he hardly knew where he was. Itnwas her face, her strange, her holynface—so tinted, odd, and ravishing,nyet delicately pale one moment, sonsoftly darker the next.nNotice how strange and odd everythingn^••••••SSnJuly/August 1080n