Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus (Paperback)

~ (Author) "There are few places as serene and opulent as an American university campus..." (more)
Key Phrases: Asian Americans, Martin Luther King, New York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Virtually all U.S. universities now fill a sizable portion of each year's freshman class with students from "certified minority groups"--mainly blacks and Hispanics--with considerably lower grade-point averages than white and Asian-American applicants who are refused admission, according to the author. A former White House policy analyst, D'Souza believes that preferential-treatment admissions policies weaken educational standards and foster separatism and racial tension on campus. In a hard-hitting, controversial report sure to be widely debated, he focuses on divisive issues at six schools: Stanford's multicultural curriculum; Berkeley's ethnic admissions policy; Lee Atwater's forced resignation as Howard University trustee; and recent developments at Michigan, Harvard and Duke. Now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, D'Souza calls for "nonracial affirmative action policies" based strictly on socioeconomic disadvantage. He further argues that university-funded student groups should be built around cultural and intellectual interests, not skin color or sexual proclivity.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This book is sure to generate controversy. The author's thesis is that affirmative action policies in college admissions, and the higher education establishment's zealous pursuit of a curriculum that reflects the new orthodoxy of multiculturalism (which calls for increased minority admissions and privileges, more minority-based classes, more minorities on faculties) promote ignorance and racism. D'Souza, a former White House domestic policy analyst, supports his views with extensive interviews and studies conducted on six college campuses. The new victims, he feels, are the high academic achievers who are assumed to rejected for fear of overrepresentation (various Asian minorities). The debate has already begun over D'Souza's engaging and thought-provoking book. Articles featuring it appeared in Atlantic Monthly (February) and are forthcoming in Read er's Digest and Forbes in April. For most libraries.
- Arla Lindgren, St. John's Univ., Jamaica, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684863847
• ISBN-13: 978-0684863849
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #345,394 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coersion, indoctrination and intolerance in the classroom..., August 7, 2000

By	Mayer Goldberg (Beer Sheva, Negev Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's an embarrasing prospect to consider: Universities silencing discussion and dissention. But D'Souza mounts a compelling case: Example after example, case after case of faculty bullying students with opposing views, silencing discussion in class, using campus police to keep out students that ask questions. Where? At some of the top schools in the United States.

The issue is not about using this or that term -- students pretty much absorb and abide by the vocabulary of Political Correctness. The issue is not about speaking in a polite and civilised manner. The issue is not about raising your hand and waiting for your turn to speak. The issue is about what you think and believe: Apparently, when students take positions that are opposed to the political views and agendas of some of the faculty, it's discipline time!

Why are classrooms politicised? Why do professors bring their political agendas into the classroom? Of what value is an education system that holds that some views are above discussion, considertation, challange?

The importance of Illiberal Education is in the collection of cases it presents: Victims of intolerance and indoctrination in the classroom can realise that what's happening to them is not an isolated instance but a part of a larger trend. It will also help them respond more effectively.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I hate to say it..., July 30, 1999

By A Customer

It pains me to agree with anything this conservative Reagan lackey has to say, but the fact is that when it comes to academics, something has gone well-intentioned but wrong on American campuses. As Harold Bloom has put it, people don't teach literature anymore, they teach ideologies. I don't like D'Souza's politics, but he does a good job here of skewering the opposite extreme which seems to have gotten the upper hand in turning colleges into travesties.

73 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relevant and well argued, June 22, 2000

By	David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

D'Souza makes a strong case for the proposition that the modern American university, in the name of diversity and multiculturalism, has stifled debate and intimidated everyone into accepting new canons. These canons are race and gender based propositions that one must accept or risk being ostracized as sexist or racist. D'Souza argues that Western thought is self criticising (ie Marxism is a criticism of Western borgois culture) and that teaching method of the typical liberal curriculae was disputation, not indoctrination. The recent gender and ethnic studies programs, however, are based on indoctgrination. You do not dare to debate the ideas espoused in these courses. D'Souza also points out serious inequities in affirmative action programs such as Asian students being discriminated against at Berkley since their achievement was so high, they had a disproportionately large number of applicants qualified for admission. Therefore, white applicants and certainly minority applicants were favored over the Asians. Some claim the author is a right wing idealogue but, in fact, he makes a sound, well reasoned argument that many political liberals, who favor the traditional liberal education, could well embrace.