Writing Down the Jones

This book, a required text for one of my classes, did not impress. Despite the glowing remarks on the cover, I didn’t find it particularly inspiring, enlightening, or forward thinking. There is definitely some valuable content, but most of it is simply a cobbling together of things said better by others. It is otherwise unnecessarily verbose and repetitive. For example, rather than discussing “racism” or “prejudice” or even “long-standing racial animosity,” the author refers to “the racial divide that has affected this nation since its inception.”  He repeats long phrases, word for word, in multiple places, seemingly unaware that he’s already used them only 40 or 50 pages prior.

All-in-all I found the reading experience thoroughly unenjoyable.

Valuable Points

As I said, there were some valuable things in the book. Unfortunately, in each of the cases below Dockery only approached these deep issues before darting off in some other direction. He missed what could have been some very fruitful lines of inquiry.

Cross-disciplinary work. At one time it may have seemed that the division of labour would only extend as far as pin factories, but as the population has grown, particularly in developed countries, the division has climbed farther up the ladder. It has become much more difficult to find a manager that understands the work of his subordinates, and it is a rare and wonderful occasion to come across thinkers so prolific and varied as John Dewey or Neil Postman, let alone Clement. In order to justify their study and continued employment, it’s natural for students and faculty to pursue more knowledge of less – intense specialization. This is, of course, a natural occurrence in a market with such a large and well-educated workforce.

But there is great value in working across disciplines. A recent article published by Wired magazine investigated the most efficient methods for solving difficult problems, and found that a key step was involving people outside of the field. Stepping out of our fields also allows us to see situations from a different perspective and have empathy for those around us, which will in turn increase our ability to honor and respect one another as we build a strong Christian academic community.

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