by Stephen Law
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Product Description
Behind headlines on the conflict in Iraq and global terrorism, a much deeper battle is raging over children and the values they should adopt. Political and religious leaders including Blair and Bush have been joined by the popular press in Enlightenment-bashing and bitter attacks on ‘liberal parenting’, calling for a return to authority and religious tradition. How do we raise good children? How do we make good citizens? In defiant yet acute fashion, Stephen Law urges us to re-evaluate the liberal tradition of thinking about morality. Tackling authoritarian rhetoric head-on, he argues that children should learn about right and wrong, and respect for others, but that their education should be grounded in the hard-won values of the Enlightenment. Taking on neo-conservatives and religious and media commentators, The War for Children’s Minds is a candid and controversial call for a liberal, philosophically informed approach to raising children. Rejecting accusations that liberal parenting is a Sixties hangover that entails an aimless ‘whatever’ attitude to morality, Stephen Law exposes the weaknesses of arguments calling for a return to authoritarian styles of moral education. He clearly shows that thinking for oneself does not mean that all moral points of view are equally good, or that we must reject faith in order to think freely. A staunch defence of the humane, liberal life, The War for Children’s Minds is a much-needed guide to an urgent moral conundrum.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A Roadmap out of our Politically Correct Education Nightmare, 2008-09-21
Law's book promotes the idea that the best way to bring up children is such that they learn to think for themselves yet within a framework that eschews moral relativism, "the prevailing philosophy of the West". Relativism proclaims that there is no absolute moral truth, just differing opinions, all of which are equally valid. For example, Somalis cut off the women's clitoris before they reach puberty. They think it is right. In the west, we think it is wrong. A relativist will say that they are both right. Again, Law cites Robert Simon, a professor of philosophy, quoting despairingly of a student: 'Of course I dislike the Nazis', but who is to say they are morally wrong.'
Law goes on to say: "Relativism, it's often argued, has also poisoned our homes. Parents no longer feel they have the right to force their own values on their children. Adults no longer confident in their own moral authority or the objectivity of their moral judgments are standing back and allowing their children to run amok." In another passage he points out that in schools "...teachers reach for relativism to get them off the hook. That Jesus is true-for-Christians but false-for-muslims. Relativism saves educators from having to admit that any religion might actually mistaken, or even (heaven forbid) that they might be all mistaken.
Law trenchantly observes: `politically correct' arguments for relativism, while seductive, are muddle headed nonsense'.
Law points out that debates about child education focus, erroneously, on only two alternatives: what he calls "Liberal" and "Authoritarian". The Authoritarian approach simply tells children what to think. Many religions are authoritarian for example. The Liberal approach is to guide children to question critically and think for themselves. (Personally, I would prefer him to use a term instead of "Liberal" that is not so politically loaded: "Free-thinker" perhaps?).
Law says that there is a second dimension with two alternatives: "Relativist" and "Non-relativist". In many people's minds, Relativism is the automatic handmaiden to Liberalism. Law's insight is to point out that it ain't necessarily so: education can be BOTH Non-relativist AND Liberal. He arrives at this conclusion after meeting all possible objections and defusing them with a philosopher's clarity of logic. Stephen Law writes with admirable simplicity and his philosophical arguments are readily understood.
Law, naturally enough, approaches his topic as a philosophical argument. In passing he mentions that some moral stances are found universally in just about every culture. That opens a very interesting subject: many moral fundamentals are hard-wired in the human species. One common one is "Thou shalt not kill". Just about every culture has this kind of moral position but, just as with the Hebrews, it was only supposed to apply to one's own tribe. It was quite acceptable to kill people from other tribes. After all, Moses had hardly descended from the mountain with the Tablets when he gave orders to "save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites...". But the same attitude is a found in all cultures to the extent that anthropologists call it a Universal Human Value. It is found in the San Bushman, Aborigine and any western country at war with an enemy. In other words nature programmed us with certain behaviors in order to function healthily in our local society.
The idea that some moral values are hard-wired - and not the result of cultural conditioning - is a powerful one. In my book Deadly Harvest Deadly Harvest, I explain more on this fascinating subject and in particular how life on the savannas of east Africa programmed our instinctual behaviors for survival in a forager band of some 50 people. When we understand that, we understand much more about where we should be going with our children and society in general.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 Preaching To The Choir, 2007-01-02
Stephen Law has written a very informative book on the importance of liberal education for children. He argues persuasively that liberalism does NOT entail absolute moral relativism or the education of children without behavioral standards.
Nevertheless, I did not find his book to be particularly enlightening. Being a liberal, I found that Law simply comfirmed what I already suspected or knew. I also doubt that many who adhere to a more "authoritarian" model of child rearing will be convinced otherwise by this book.
If you're looking for a book that provides justification for liberal education, this is a good place to start. If you're looking for a guide on how to provide a liberal education for your child, look elsewhere.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Book. Solid Arguments. Fun Read., 2006-12-27
Stephen Law has produced a fun read on a very controversial and serious topic. His arguments are solid in defense of liberal education. He tells how authoritarian education, in both theistic and atheistic forms, is bad for children. He tells how critical thinking does not lead to moral relativism, and gives a convincing case for the defense of critical thinking in schools.
Law is a gem among philosophers in that he provides his lucid arguments in readable form, which can be followed throughout the book. He provides numerous anecdotes and witty writing to provide a good, fun, enlightening read.
A well-timed and excellent book. I highly recommend it to everyone, whether you are with or without kids or whether you are in or out of the educational system.
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