Nutter,

Barzun is just a speck of consciousness in a Universe of possibilities all enabled by and guided by the 2LT.

You are able to prefer Barzun, just as you are able to run a red light.

It does not give you wisdom and ultimately you will have to pay the fine.

Rafe,
can you please point me in the direction to obtain copies of Barzun's works?

I'm particularly interested in his views on education and on the catastrophic economic times of the twenty's and thirties because of their relevance today.

Preferably hard back.

I think they'll fit in my library quite appropriately ... alongside the books of all the other great western thinkers. I might sit them between others such as Darwin and Marx... Wagner was banished long ago... and Marx might be following presently.

I rejected University education when I first matriculated in the 70's and again in the 90's.

I admire my son who graduated with honours in Electrical Engineering and distinction in Applied Mathematics. The latter he undertook for fun.

He's started reading from my library now.

I find this essay fascinating but it brings up a few issues. First, one wants quality people at a university. Maybe giving education to the masses has lowered standards, but not everyone is going to be a thinker; and the bricklayer, who may in fact be highly intelligent and articulate, will likely earn more. Decline is an over-used word; is it simply we do not feel people at university are worthy unless they are of particular stock, which reeks of class relations? Second, why is it a crime to enjoy university, undergraduate and especially a PhD? You are there to produce serious intellectual work, but to look upon it as sheer torture; perhaps bricklaying is more fun and noble. I think some just want others to suffer as they did and that learning is an act of torture to be endured. Maybe that thinking might stop the 'decline'

Hello imajulianutter, you can get many of Barzun's books from Amazon and if you search with BookFinder.com you will find dozens!!