nuclear installations, centers of communications,nand the like). It wouldnbe unfair to the author to try andnsummarize his book in this space. (Inurge interested readers to order theirncopies by writing to Waterstone’s,n99-101 Old Brompton Road, LondonnSW7, because this bookseller isnequipped to handle requests fromnabroad.) But I do want to draw somenurgent conclusions.nJust as the totalitarian rulers’ relationshipnto the countries they rulenresembles “private” ownership, so—nparadoxically—the totalitarian warnmachine, at least at its spetsnaz best,ndisplays the characteristics of a “private”narmy, in the sense we in thenWest use that term to describe a levelnof excellence generated by the laws ofnsupply and demand for the quality-nEducation, Inc.n”By and large we like school people.nAs a group, they are honest andnmore likely to be concerned aboutnthe welfare of others than the averagenperson in many lines of work.”nThat, at least, is the conclusion ofnTom and Harriet Sobol in YournChild in School: KindergartennThrough Second Grade (New York:nArbor House; $17.95). And if Tom,na school superintendent, and Harriet,nthe author of 10 books fornchildren, are to be believed, all thenelementary schools need is a littlennudge, now and then, in the rightndirection.n”Most school problems can benresolved cooperatively if parentsnand school people show a little skillnand patience and a willingness tontry.” There’s the rub. When did anpowerful monopoly ever relinquishnits grip in the face of polite suggestions?nIt is more than a politicalnquestion, since the involvementnof parents and community appearsnto be a vital element in the operationnof effective schools. James S.nColeman, Thomas Hoffer, and SallynKilgore in Public and Private HighnSchools: The Impact of Communitiesn(New York: Basic Books;n$21.95) have discovered—to nonconscious consumers in a free economy.nConversely, the West’s militaryndefense structure—excluding its existingnindustrial base and nearly unlimitedntechnological potential, essentialnproducts of civil, free-market activitiesn—seems to belong to the pre-WorldnWar I era (the “morality” of conscription,nfor instance, was the subject ofnpolitical debate in the U.S. during then1980 presidential election just as it hadnbeen when Saki’s comic character wasn”bayoneted to death by conscientiousnobjectors” 70 years earlier).nSpanning many military fields, suchnas intelligence, where the links withnprivate industry and commerce arenfewer and the consumer (ultimately,nthe electorate) is underrepresented ornnot quality-conscious, this gap—thenspetsnaz gap—is the true “window ofnREVISIONSnone’s surprise—that students of allntypes do better in Catholic schools,nprecisely because of the shared valuesnand community ties withinnthe Catholic community. Publicnschools with low dropout rates andnrecords of academic success are setnin communities marked by a set ofnaccepted social norms and intactnfamilies.nThis study, a sequel to the authors’nHigh School Achievement,nlends credibility to one of SecretarynBennett’s favorite sermon topics:nthe need for parental and communitynparticipation in schoolndecision-making. The book, however,nis so filled with pretentiousnjargon and so muddled in its syntaxnthat it raises the question of whatnthe authors mean by education.nInevitably, Coleman and companynremain suspicious of privatenschools and of the rugged individualismnthey represent: “The familynacts individually, enrolling thenchild in a school that is not annoutgrowth of a functional community.n. . . But this individualncalculus on the part of the parent,nattempting to maximize the fit ofnschool to child, overlooks a set ofnsocial resources which are notnprovided by schools themselves, butnare provided by these social rela­nnnvulnerability” through which the Sovietsnwill step into Western Europe. Thenremoval; of any part of NATO’s nuclearndeterrent from Europe —ncontemplated as I write these lines—nfor political reasons by the electednrepresentatives of misinformed electorates,nopens a side door as well. For thenSoviets, whose totalitarian machine ofnaggression is designed for the end ofnthe 20th century and advancednenough to take them into the 21st,nhave given new meaning to Clausewitz’snold mot by standing it on itsnhead: Politics, in 1987, is war continuednby other means.nAndrei Navrozov is poetry editor ofnChronicles.ntions that exist among the parents ofnstudents in the school.” Therefore,nthe authors seem to conclude, governmentnshould provide no incentivesnto parents who wish to liberatentheir children from the kindly ministrationsnof the education monopoly.nHardly a surprising conclusionnfrom a team of sociologists.nIt is with relief that we note thenreturn to print of Stephen Arons’nCompelling Belief The Culture ofnAmerican Schooling (Amherst: Universitynof Massachusetts Press;n$8.95 paper). In an era of fragmentingnconsensus, who has the right tondetermine which values, whichnmetaphysical system schools willnemploy in their process of indoctrination?nConservatives have discussednthese questions for yearsn—with too much rhetoric and toonlittle information. But Arons, as anlegal scholar, brings a good mindnand a solid grasp of the facts to bearnupon the problem of pluralism andneducation. He has written a compellingnlegal indictment of the publicnschool monopoly, and if onendisagrees with his prescriptionsn—the social libertinism of vouchersn—it is impossible not to admire thenclarity and force of his arguments.n(TF)nSEPTEMBER 1987 I S3n