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The War for Children's Minds
 
 
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The War for Children's Minds [Paperback]

Stephen Law
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; New edition edition (24 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0415427681
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415427685
  • Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 1.7 x 0.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 18,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Stephen Law
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Product Description

Review

'The War for Children's Minds is a brilliantly clear and convincingly argued defence of liberalism in moral education. Stephen Law examines and demolishes all the arguments in favour of authoritarian ways of teaching, and shows that in spite of the insistence of popular commentators from the religious right, a liberal and rational examination and discussion of moral questions does not lead to relativism and the decay of ethical behaviour, but can in fact be the best defence against them. This book won't be read by popular journalists: they will attack it without reading it. But it should be read by every teacher, every parent, and every politician. What's more, it should form the subject for discussion in every church, synagogue, mosque, and religious youth group. It's one of the most engaging as well as one of the most necessary books that I've ever read in the field of moral education.'  - Philip Pullman

'Progressives schools, they say, promote the wishy-washy, anything goes mentality that is the source of our social malaise. In The War for Children’s Minds, Stephen Law does a splendid and philosophically thrilling job of cutting that argument to shreds.' - The Guardian

'...a succinct and eloquent defence of liberalism.' - The Economist

'A stirring defence of liberal values.' - Times Educational Supplement

'A passionate philosophical defence of a liberal approach to parenting and education.' - The Guardian

'This defence of reason should be obligatory reading, not just in schools, but in parliament and the press. ' - Sunday Herald

'[The] debate about children’s education…seems to be dominated by the other side. It’s a side that believes Liberal is a dirty word, that the Enlightenment did more harm than good and that children should be taught in a much more formal way. In his book [Law] begs to differ. He suggests that children should be allowed to examine and discuss religious and moral issues in a liberal, philosophically informed and rational way.' - The Oxford Times

'...this volume has a hugely significant contribution to make. It is also highly readable, and provides a useful pocket guide to current philosophical thinking - a sort of religious Bill Bryson.' - Church Times

Times Educational Supplement

'A stirring defence of liberal values.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Phillip Pullman says this book "Should be read by every teacher, every parent and every politician". He's right. A liberal-bashing mythology has grown up over the past couple of decades, led by social and religious conservatives who blame everything wrong with modern society on the collapse of religious authority. This is an entertaining book designed to bust these various anti-liberal myths. It argues for the importance of getting young people to think and question, even about religious matters. Law also completely demolishes the arguments of some well-known media figures in a very amusing way.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Excellent 25 Jan 2007
By Jonster
Format:Hardcover
This is excellent. As a teacher I found this defence of the liberal approach refreshing and hard-edged. There really is no point in trying to force people to believe what you believe, but every point in helping them to work things out for themselves. The important thing is that children take the important questions of life seriously and that they reach conclusions that they genuinely believe in and would be prepared to stand up for. This is not relativism but an aproach that accepts that people are right and wrong about what they believe - but that they should be encouraged to hold well-thought out beliefs regardless of this. This book made me realise that we humans are not as bad as I thought we were, and that I really should have more faith in the capability of individuals to get to the truth.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This was a well argued rebuttal of some of claims against the Enlightenment idea that we should encourage people to be free to think for themselves and subject everything to critical scrutiny. My only qualm is that I would have liked to have seen more data from the projects on increasing emotional intelligence to bring the book up to date and make the defence of liberalism more empirical

Still it is worth reading in order to understand why the popular notion that morality requires religion or unquestioned authority is completely unsubstantiated.
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