Battle for the American Mind
By Pete Hegseth
Reviewed by Aaron Davis
In his best-selling book "As a Man Thinketh," author James Allen analyzes the power that thoughts have on reality. The big idea is that "as a man thinketh" so go his emotions, desires, and virtues. It's no secret that the mind is a powerful place; thus, a battle has been waged on the mind. More specifically, a battle has been waged on the American mind. A few years ago, author, Fox News commentator, and family man Pete Hegseth began to familiarize himself with the ongoing war for the American mind, which led him to the heart of the battlefield: the classrooms in the American public schools.
Pete is a father and a professing Christian. When reading his work, I get the sense that he leads with a Christian worldview. He's not simply a Republican borrowing Evangelical talking points. He has a clear understanding of scripture, which is reflected in his disdain for the current conditions of the public education system. With that said, let's dive into "Battle for the American Mind."
After a brief introduction to the sides in this war, Hegseth takes the reader into a history lesson focused on the Western Christian Paideia (WCP.) In short, a paideia is something that "motivates our decisions and behavior through our affections, cultivated in us at a very young age." Some might call this a worldview, but the separation here is that a paideia is intentional. It's less about where and when you grew up and more about what was intentionally instilled in you as a child. So, through additions and omissions, the WCP slowly over time became a more progressive paideia. As the author observes, this was intentional, deliberate, and slow. Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation becomes the philosophy of the government in the next." We see through this brief history of the shift in paideia that much of what is happening in our current government is the result of these minor shifts in the classroom spanning back thirty years.
After laying out the 16,000-hour war that is being fought over the course of a child's educational career, Hegseth delves into the elitist roots of progressivism, the takeover of Critical Theory in the classrooms, and the slide towards even more radical extremists, but the book is not a manifesto against the past and those that were the architects of the current system. He does have a plan, and that is to help drive the system back toward a WCP. He believes that this happens with a variety of angles of focus, some of which are reason and virtue, as well as wonder and beauty. He looks at how a classical Christian education focuses on these areas and what kind of impact that actually has on a child's education. He gives a breakdown of how classical Christian education works, and then makes a case for pursuing that route for your children. While CCE is the desired outcome, he also recognizes that some people might not be able to pursue that route given distance or finances. There is more to the battle plan than simply finding a CCE school, which he includes.
Overall, this book is very well written and engaging. Hegseth is clear that taking back the education system is a long game, while simultaneously making the case for taking immediate action and getting your kids out of public school if at all possible. I personally believe that we need to have a heavier hand in educating our kids. If you are not intimately involved in training up your child, you don't have a ton of ground to stand on when criticizing the education system they are subjected to.
Audience:
Mostly parents, grandparents, or guardians.
Usefulness Rating:
8/10
Entertainment Value:
9/10 - It is political, but not at a level that would be considered over the head of most people. There is history and personal antidotes throughout.
Good For Groups:
Maybe a PTA or parents group as a conversation topic.
For more information about this book or other reading suggestions, feel free to contact me directly.
