1.5 stars

Brighouse is clearly an intellectual writing to other intellectuals. The writing is unfriendly to the lay reader.

The author is also very left-wing, as he puts it, and non-religious, and though he tries to be impartial, that's a difficult task, so his biases show.

He made several comments that I thought were insightful and balanced; I appreciated that he made a distinction between education and schooling. He also acknowledged that none of us has as much control over our lives (especially our financial and career situations) as we like to think; and several times lamented that kids today are immersed in a culture that is incredibly materialistic.

However, I strongly disagreed with his assertion that parents don't have a right to educate their children in the way they deem best. (That absolutely is the right of parents while their children are minors.)

The author acted as if parents were able to force adult children into always doing as the parent wished, and his arguments seemed based on an assumption that individuals are incapable of reason and logic unless a formal school (preferably public) teaches them these things; the view just doesn't give enough credit to humans, generally. ( )