Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology and Education - Softcover

"Postman is that rare social critic whose commentary on the current state of American culture and education is a funny as it is throughout and well argued...a provocative collection." -- The New York Times Book Review

"Postman uses cogent arguments, sharp needles and gentle humor to challenge readers to change their ways of thinking ... delightful." -- St. Louis Post Dispatch

In a series of feisty and ultimately hopeful essays, one of America's sharpest social critics casts a shrewd eye over contemporary culture to reveal the worst -- and the best -- of our habits of discourse, tendencies in education, and obsessions with technological novelty. Readers will find themselves rethinking many of their bedrock assumptions: Should education transmit culture or defend us against it? Is technological innovation progress or a peculiarly American addiction? When everyone watches the same television programs -- and television producers don't discriminate between the audiences for Sesame Street and Dynasty -- is childhood anything more than a sentimental concept? Writing in the traditions of Orwell and H.L. Mencken, Neil Postman sends shock waves of wit and critical intelligence through the cultural wasteland.