The Closing of the American Mind (Dust Jacket Missing)

Description

"A sweeping analysis of the intellectual currents of our century, the Closing of the American Mind is essential to an understanding of America's spiritual malaise."

This essay - a meditation on the state of our souls, particularly those of the young, and their education - is written from the perspective of a teacher. Such a perspective, although it has grave limitations and is ac- companied by dangerous temptations, is a privileged one. The teacher, particularly the teacher dedicated to liberal education, must constantly try to look toward the goal of human completeness and back at the natures of his students here and now, ever seeking to understand the former and to assess the capacities of the latter to approach it. Attention to the young, knowing what their hungers are and what they can digest, is the essence of the craft. One must spy out and elicit those hungers. For there is no real education that does not respond to felt need; anything else acquired is trifling display. What each generation is can be best discovered in its relation to the permanent concerns of mankind. This in turn can best be discovered in each generation's tastes, amusements, and especially angers (this is above all true in an age that prides itself on calm self-awareness). Particularly revealing are the various impostors whose business it is to appeal to the young. These culture peddlers have the strongest of motives for finding out the appetites of the young-so they are useful guides into the labyrinths of the spirit of the times.