School of Hard Knocks

So it's not the worst thing ever and not an attempt to take over the government. But it was still bad, and people who broke windows and whatnot should be punished.

Agreed.

Now can we have the same standard and punish the larger number of leftist protesters who had government support, meant to tear down the existing order by force, and did more violence?

A very good discussion. I appreciate Mr. Gutmann as a guest again and his insight. I don’t know if this is a valid concern, but I wonder how much it matters for kids to be taught classical subjects and core knowledge if society, or at least our institutions, don’t value them. Objectively they do, but if being hired or getting into a “prestigious” university depends more on how well versed a person is in woke ideology or CRT, then isn’t that more valuable to learn - is that the lesson now? It’s the same as the elitist pipeline: it doesn’t necessarily matter how much objective knowledge a kid has or what exactly they achieved, it matters more that they have a paper stamped with Yale or Harvard. I don’t think either of these are absolute, but in terms of our social and culturally influential institutions it seems to be moving in that direction. Thanks for another great episode and to @bethanymandel for filling in!

JennaStocker (View Comment):

I wonder how much it matters for kids to be taught classical subjects and core knowledge if society, or at least our institutions, don’t value them

Great point. Perhaps it's a valuable part of Turning Things Around if kids learn the core knowledge, enter a world in which it isn't valued much, and wonder . . . why? And then apply it to their lives nevertheless. A solid knowledge of history is a good inoculation against the madness of the moment, and helps one navigate the daily passions with perspective.

It’s the same as the elitist pipeline: it doesn’t necessarily matter how much objective knowledge a kid has or what exactly they achieved, it matters more that they have a paper stamped with Yale or Harvard.

It matters to the rest of the credentialed class, and those who figure it's a signifier of their class position to defer to the credentialed class. (Smart good people defer to Experts.) Personally, I have the opposite reaction. When I hear that someone was graduated from Yale or Harvard, I think . . . "And?" Unless they came out with a degree that prepared them to build bridges or fix hearts, I assume they spent four years huffing gas.

JennaStocker (View Comment):
I wonder how much it matters for kids to be taught classical subjects and core knowledge if society, or at least our institutions, don’t value them

James Lileks (View Comment):

Great point. Perhaps it’s a valuable part of Turning Things Around if kids learn the core knowledge, enter a world in which it isn’t valued much, and wonder . . . why? And then apply it to their lives nevertheless. A solid knowledge of history is a good inoculation against the madness of the moment, and helps one navigate the daily passions with perspective.

It’s the same as the elitist pipeline: it doesn’t necessarily matter how much objective knowledge a kid has or what exactly they achieved, it matters more that they have a paper stamped with Yale or Harvard.

It matters to the rest of the credentialed class, and those who figure it’s a signifier of their class position to defer to the credentialed class. (Smart good people defer to Experts.) Personally, I have the opposite reaction. When I hear that someone was graduated from Yale or Harvard, I think . . . “And?” Unless they came out with a degree that prepared them to build bridges or fix hearts, I assume they spent four years huffing gas.

Thank you for this reply. It gives me hope.

A solid hour of discussion about charter schools. Masking. School choice. Teachers’ unions. Masking. Charter schools. Unions. And of course, unions and masking and charters and school choice.

What they barely touched on, though, was Critical Race Theory. Andrew tried bringing it up a couple of times but Rob — typically — did not want to talk about it. By now we know that Rob isn’t comfortable talking about CRT and when he does talk about it, it’s to essentially wave it away.

“The lives of affluent kids,” Rob declares on today’s podcast, “won’t really be affected by CRT.”

For Rob, Wokeness aka Critical Race Theory aka what John McWhorter refers to as the religion of Anti-Racism is a big deal but not, y’know, a HUGE deal. For Rob, the culture has bigger fish to fry.

One suspects that for Rob, the expansion of Wokeness into the culture is like ants at a picnic: A major annoyance, to be sure, but nothing we can’t live with.

Rob is an exceptionally bright and talented guy but his “whistling past the graveyard” attitude toward Ibram X. Kendi-style “Anti-Racism” is so naive that it almost beggars belief.