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The Graves of Academe
Richard Mitchell
ISBN 0-671-63937-4
Simon and Schuster, Inc./Fireside Books
1981
It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters.
--Edmund Burke
Praised by critics across the nation, The Graves of Academe is Richard Mitchell's angry and brilliant tour through America's bloated public school system -- whose mangled, self-serving language and policies would make Orwell wince. Stamped with vintage Mitchell wit and laced with stinging examples from The Underground Grammarian, The Graves of Academe pinpoints the historic sources of the mind-boggling "educationist" bureaucracy and reveals why today's schools are riddled not only with illiterate students but with illiterate teachers and administrators as well.
The Graves of Academe is a book of the highest importance...its slashing and irrefutable attack, not on teachers, but on the educational establishment that trains them -- and which his trained us...Mr. Mitchell is invaluable. Also -- he's enormously entertaining: -- Clifton Fadiman
"This is one of those books that seem to make such eminent common sense that you feel compelled to read aloud selected passages to those within hearing -- regardless of whether they want to listen." Dallas Times Herald "...makes H.L. Mencken sound like a waffler." Time
"Mitchell is a brilliant stylist, a shrewd observer and a genuine wit." National Review "...a delightfully satirical book on the malaise of the American educational system, `the professional educato