# Inside American Education

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1993 book by Thomas Sowell

Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas Author Thomas Sowell Language English Genre Education Publisher The Free Press Publication date 1993 Publication place United States Pages 368 ISBN 0029303303 OCLC 855170876 Dewey Decimal 370.973 LC Class LA210 .S65 1993

***Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas*** is a book by economist and social theorist [Thomas Sowell](/source/Thomas_Sowell) (hardcover 1993, paperback 2003, Kindle Edition 2010) that details Sowell's assessment of the state of [education in the United States](/source/Education_in_the_United_States) (both [K-12 education](/source/K-12_education) and [higher education](/source/Higher_education_in_the_United_States)).

The book received a wide range of reviews, with *[Forbes](/source/Forbes_(magazine))* and *[National Review](/source/National_Review)* praising it, while academics such as [John Brademas](/source/John_Brademas) questioned aspects of the book concerning multiculturalism and higher education costs.

## Contents

Sowell was critical of a number of educational programs and paradigms that became popular in the United States in the 1960s onward such as *[Man: A Course of Study](/source/Man%3A_A_Course_of_Study)*, [values clarification](/source/Values_clarification), [self-esteem](/source/Self-esteem) and [sex education](/source/Sex_education).[1]: 81–82[2]: 50

Sowell was critical of schools of education for training the future teachers in educational fads and having low overall standards, and was critical of states requiring people to have credentials from schools of education to take teaching jobs.[3]

Sowell argued that higher educational institutions were full of double standards, including standards that excused violence and disruption when carried out in the name of politically correct goals, but were extremely harsh on small infractions that might be perceived to oppose politically correct goals.[2]: 50[1]: 84–85 Sowell also criticized the decision of [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) president [Donald Kennedy](/source/Donald_Kennedy) to expel China scholar [Steven W. Mosher](/source/Steven_W._Mosher) from the Ph.D. program, alleging: "Not one stated requirement for the doctorate in anthropology was even claimed to have been violated...Instead, criteria of personal behavior were created *ex post*.[4] Regarding higher education, Sowell criticizes the practice at large universities of designating undergraduate instruction to graduate assistants.[1]: 84[2]: 51

## Reception

Sowell appeared on *[The Diane Rehm Show](/source/The_Diane_Rehm_Show)* on January 13, 1993 to discuss the book.[5]

[Chester E. Finn Jr.](/source/Chester_E._Finn_Jr.), a former United States Assistant Secretary of Education under [William Bennett](/source/William_Bennett), praised the book in a review for *[National Review](/source/National_Review)* as "a clear, hard-hitting, amply documented work that manages to be strong without being shrill, sensible yet not narrow-minded, outraged but not outrageous."[6] For *[Forbes](/source/Forbes_(magazine))*, [James W. Michaels](/source/James_Michaels) called Sowell "an American [Emile Zola](/source/%C3%89mile_Zola), accusing the smug American educational leadership of hypocrisy, anti-intellectualism, avarice and propagandizing for essentially left-wing causes...in a factual, analytic style."[2]: 50

A review in *[Arts Education Policy Review](/source/Arts_Education_Policy_Review)* called the book "a penetrating and comprehensive criticism of the educational establishment. Amidst the turbidity of educational debate, it provides a bracing splash of cold reason...The book is an excellent resource for policy discussions and development and offers provocative analysis of the many ills besetting education. Sowell adeptly dismantles many of the familiar arguments for multiculturalism, racial quotas, values clarification, various administrative policies, and other educational practices, and in so doing, he exposes the deceptions and dogmas that have insulated these practices from accountability."[7]

[John Brademas](/source/John_Brademas), a former [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) member of the [United States House of Representatives](/source/United_States_House_of_Representatives) and president of [New York University](/source/New_York_University), offered a critical review in *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*: "Some of Mr. Sowell's attacks are on target, but his generalizations are so extravagant and his tone so self-righteous and bombastic that he undermines his case."[8] Brademas added that the book "offers little constructive counsel" on dealing with the issues surrounding education in the United States.[8]

[John Silber](/source/John_Silber), then president of [Boston University](/source/Boston_University), found the book to have "strengths" and "occasional weaknesses" and likened Sowell's perspective to that of a "military historian, not as a battlefield correspondent".[1]: 80 Silber concluded that the book "identifies the obstacles keeping the American people from achieving an excellent system of education as political" while finding that it "too easily discounts our cultural difficulties".[1]: 85

*[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly)* called some critiques in this book regarding athletic scholarships and [publish or perish](/source/Publish_or_perish) "well reasoned" but added that Sowell "often goes wildly askew, as when he argues that sex education causes teen pregnancy."[9]

*[The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education](/source/The_Journal_of_Blacks_in_Higher_Education)* had a critical review by journalist David Hatchett, finding "a tendency to see complicated problems in narrow, simplistic terms" while praising the chapters about "economics irregularities in the country's network of elite universities".[10]: 103 Regarding Sowell's critique of federal financial aid disincentivizing private universities from limiting costs, Hatchett counters that most college students attend public universities and lack access to financial aid.[10]: 104 Furthermore, Hatchett was most critical of the book's views on public K-12 education, for instance opposition to multiculturalism and sex education: "Schools are not just bureaucratic islands isolated from the mainstream of U.S. society. They...are products of the values and social currents of the society that produced them."[10]: 105

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Silber_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Silber_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Silber_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Silber_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Silber_1-4) Silber, John (1993). ["Reviews: Inside American Education"](https://research.ebsco.com/c/wm4vue/search/details/pzgzx6ssnv). *Academic Questions*. **6** (3): 80–85. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/BF02683290](https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02683290).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Michaels_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Michaels_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Michaels_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Michaels_2-3) Michaels, James W. (March 29, 1993), ["Ph.D.s in hypocrisy"](http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=93669047&site=ehost-live&scope=site), *Forbes*, vol. 151, no. 7, pp. 50–51, retrieved August 26, 2018

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [*Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas (Hardcover)*](https://archive.org/details/insideamericaned00sowe). Free Press. 1992. pp. 23–27, 288–291. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0029303306](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0029303306).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *Inside American Education*, p. 192

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Diane Rehm Radio Talk Show"](https://www.c-span.org/video/?37291-1/diane-rehm-radio-talk-show). C-SPAN. January 18, 1993. Retrieved August 25, 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Finn, Chester E. Jr. (February 15, 1993), ["Revenge of the Blob"](http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9302050388&site=ehost-live&scope=site), *National Review*, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 49–50, retrieved August 26, 2018

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Barton, Laurie (April 1996). ["Book Review: The Emperor Has No Clothes"](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10632913.1996.9935071). *[Arts Education Policy Review](/source/Arts_Education_Policy_Review)*. **97** (4). [Taylor & Francis](/source/Taylor_%26_Francis): 39–40. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/10632913.1996.9935071](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F10632913.1996.9935071). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1063-2913](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1063-2913).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Brademas_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Brademas_8-1) Brademas, John (March 28, 1993). ["The Victory of the Left-Wing Storm Troopers"](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/28/books/the-victory-of-the-leftwing-storm-troopers.html). *The New York Times Book Review*. p. 11. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180826214744/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/28/books/the-victory-of-the-leftwing-storm-troopers.html) from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved June 12, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas"](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-02-930330-6). *Publishers Weekly*. January 1993. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20161030143716/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-02-930330-6) from the original on October 30, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Hatchett_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Hatchett_10-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Hatchett_10-2) Hatchett, David (1993). "Sowell on Education". *The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education* (1): 103–105. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2962524](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2962524).

v t e Works by Thomas Sowell Race and Economics (1975) Knowledge and Decisions (1980) A Conflict of Visions (1987) Inside American Education (1993) The Vision of the Anointed (1995) Basic Economics (2000–2014) Applied Economics (2003; 2008) Affirmative Action Around the World (2004) Black Rednecks and White Liberals (2005) The Housing Boom and Bust (2009) Intellectuals and Society (2010) Wealth, Poverty and Politics (2015; 2016) Charter Schools and Their Enemies (2020)

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