The Further Responsibility of Intellectuals

This book is about numbers. It is not about children, adults, or other kinds of people; it is not about schools, families, or other kinds of institutions. It is an application of a standard statistical technique to several sets of data, deriving therefrom several summary statistics. The work does not help us understand what structural relationships are hidden behind the numbers. It does not tell us from whose perspective these numbers may be meaningful. It does not investigate whether there are identifiable groups of people to whom these numbers do not apply. There are inherent contradictions between this book as a statistical study,as a statement of issues, and as a political document. Announced to the world at the Waldorf Astoria, delivered with appropriate summary in The Saturday Review, and sold through full-page advertisements in the New York Times, it must be seen by the author as an important contribution to debate over public issues.