Athens, GR (Greece, we M to remembernthe zip code), and was tested in somenstates (parts?) of the European Union atnleast a millennium ago. What we callnfootball is, to our knowledge, an Americannversion of a game that originated inn1823 in Rugby, England, but allegedlynwas known in France and Italy even innthe Middle Ages. Someone told us thatnthe same Mr. Granger, a feuilletonistnquite representative of the ChicagonTribune’s level of intelligence, oncenwrote a column in which he explainednthat Paris is barbaric because he couldn’tnfind a men’s room that was accessible tontourists there. In Paris, of all places? Innthe city where there are little establishmentsnon every street comer knovwi asnpissotierres? What a strange case ofndiuretic myopia… DnMourningnWhat do our centers of edification,nlike Time magazine, mourn? We quote:nAntagonism between the Presidentnand the press corps has been at its lowestnlevel in 20 years. The civility hasnbeen welcome, but has the public interestnbeen served?nTranslated into the language of commonsensicalnsuspicion, it means: the publicninterest is best served when the pressnhates a President, maligns him, lies aboutnhim in order to do him in, seethes withnmindless rage. Who needs civility? ButnTime is thorough in its despair; it quotesnMr. Jody Powell, the Carterian philosophernof power, complaining:n’Most reporters I talk to say they generallynsort of like the guy.’nOf course, if Reagan were loathed, lifenwould be much richer and the republicnbetter oflf. Time adds to Mr. Powell’s remarks:n”Nonetheless they [the reporters]nfeel used.” By whom, and why? Becausenthey are unable to execrate and abhor?nWhat an elevated ethical principle… DnTin: AMKRICAN PROSCKNIUMnDifferencesnIt looks as if the first salvos of the 1984nPresidential campaign have been fired.nThe issue on which the political adversariesnare supposed to differ is publicneducation. So far, the two prospectivenPresidential candidates’ commentary onnthat subject has proved only how lownthe quality of public discourse in Americanhas sunk.nThe simple fectuaUty that tells us what anprofessional morass and social disgracenpublic education has become needs nonWhite House Commissions or congressionalndebates: it can be learned kova tabloidsnand police precinct reports. PresidentnReagan puts the blame on thenteachers, their lack of skills, their moralnapathy, and their self-serving, callousnunionism. Mr. Mondale, the Democraticnfiront-ruimer, believes that an appropriationnof $11 billion to do more of whatneducation is already doing—that is, hireneven more “socially committed” teachersnOCCASIONAL PAPERSnThe Rockford Institute presentsnthe latest two additions to itsnOccasional Papers series.n—^will solve the problem. He seemsnquite unaware of the feet that the systematicnand wanton destruction of humannand civic commitments, which he andnother left-liberal theorists have beennurging upon the society since the mid-n1960’s, has actually been accomplishednin our educational system. Neither statesmannhas mentioned that it is the collapsenof the formative principle—which forntwo centuries was the marrow of Americannschooling but which crumbled innthe 1970’s under the ferocious reformsnengineered by the liberal bureaucraciesn—^that is the source of our social catastrophe.nUntil then, the goal of Americanneducation was the formation of enlightened,nresponsible, decent citizens.nNow, however, teenagers in high schoolnare asked to choose between decencynand instincts, learning and “social conscience,”nresponsibility and the pursuitnof pleasurable bestiality. This instructionalnarrangement is supposed to emphasizenthe idea of progress. Its result isn”The Family and the Free Economy”nr ‘^ The editor of Persuasion At Work, Dr. Allan C. Carlson, arguesn’ ^^ •’ that the nation’s economic difficulties and social difficulties maynbe the same problem.n^n”America’s Secret Life-Giving Weapon:nObservations on the Nuclear Freeze”nDr. John A. Howard, president of The Rockford Institute, identifiesna surer road to peace than the popularized nuclear freeze.nAvailable for 35C apiece from The Rockford Instituten934 N. Main St., Rockford, IL 61103nnn••^^^49nSeptember 198Sn