the foes of American capitalism, then”new class” of intellectuals whose expertisenis control, not production, andnwhose sympathies lie with the statistnmentality, prevail upon officials to removenfirst one, then another, freedomnfrom the realm of individual action tonthe realm of government control.nEspecially by means of the communicationsnmedia and the “knowledge industry,”nAmericans are encouraged to allowntheir acquisitive passions—the easiestnto please—to win the struggle againstntheir better judgment, which is usuallyntoo demanding a disciplinarian anyway.nThe soul of America writ small! Andnas first one passion, then another, givesnthe new Leviathan his way, Americannbusiness is slowly squeezed to inactivity,nand the golden eggs are increasinglynhard to come by.nNovak’s prescription will not surprisenthe regular readers of the Chroniclesnof Culture. American businessnmust mount an intellectual offensivenagainst the glittering visions of thenegalitarian romantics—visions thatnoften serve to sugar-coat raw lust fornpower. Socialism is no longer a mere vision:nit is a reality in several cornersnof the world, and when measured upnagainst this reality, the glittering visionnfalls to pieces. If Y^QTtyprecedes socialism,nit cannot survive it. In no existingnsocialist regime have liberty and democracynpersevered. But capitalismncannot develop and flourish unless libertynis preserved. Capitalism merelynreflects the economic dimension ofnliberty in our culture. It depends onnliberty, and nurtures it as well: all thenfree decisions which occur in the marketplacencontribute to a responsiblenhabit of mind by which the people becomenaccustomed to acting as free men.nBut in our culture this reality has beenntaken for granted but never properlynunderstood. So, Novak concludes.n”The task before business leaders,npolitical leaders, and humanists in thenpresent generation, clearly, is tonstruggle creatively to bring about thatnarticulation, in profound and originalnpatrimony of free societies. Libertynis our culture’s most cherished value.nIt does not defend itself. It must alwaysnbe rewon anew. The new classnhas, perhaps unwittingly, brought usnthe great blessing of living in a generationnthat must, for its survival,nthink freshly and deeply and lastingly.nThe competition of classes, like thencompetition of ideas, is the healthyndynamism our society is designed tongenerate. All benefit by such competition.”nStruggling for One’snOwn Child’s MindnConnaught Coyne Marshner: BlackboardnTyranny; Arlington House;nNew Rochelle, New York.nby Mahmood ButtnIJooks on the American educationalnsystem have been written from a varietynof ideological perspectives, yet there isnone common element in all of them.nThey are “angry books” describing inndetail the ills of the compulsory publicnschooling. There is a general consensus,nwhether it is Ivan Dlich’s DeschoolingnThe journey of Ben Sakmar fromnLattimer to Michael Novak at thenAmerican Enterprise Institute invitesnsome reflection. The American system,nwhich produced a heinous attack on unarmednminers at the turn of the century,nfinds an articulate and persuasive defendernin the writer who descends fromnthe victims, whose love for those defenselessnand wronged immigrantsnstirred him to years of effort to “fillnin the gap” in history—for his people,nfor his country. And then, the effortsnto resurrect and defend his country.nA labor of love, indeed. DnHence the concluding thesis of Mrs.nMarshner in her book BlackboardnTyranny is once again that “public educationnas it now exists is not only anfailure but a nuisance and a threat tonthe continuance of an ordered society.”nWhat distinguishes Mrs. Marshner fromnmany others is her belief that the Americannsystem of education is not respondingnto the needs of the American public,nand has come to be arbitrarily controllednby bureaucratic educationists and theirnallies in the state and federal governments.nThis alliance has destroyedn”I.ibrarii-s should hae Ixxiks oflering divi-r>;tnt views, but ta.pavi-rs deservenbetter than viiiikinrc manuals filled with sweeping geni-rali/.ations. halfiruliis.nand hv.sterical e.Mremisrti.”n— library JournalnSociety, Max Rafferty’s Suffer LittlenChildren, or Arthur Bestor’s EducationalnWastelands, that American educationnhas failed to live up to its promise.nSchools are not performing their basicntask of producing literate, moral andnintellectually competent young adults.nDr. Butt is Chairman of the EducationnDepartment of Rockford College.nnnthe traditional local control and sponsorshipnof education to such an extentnthat parents and taxpayers have beenneffectively eliminated from educationalndecision-making. Parents and taxpayersnshould embark upon a concerted programnof political activism to regain theirnright to “decide the direction of [their]nchildren’s lives,” the author suggests.nHer harshest criticism is heaped onni23nChronicles of Culturen