JUSTICE WAY

A child spends a few hours a day in a classroom, and the rest of his waking life soaking in the people around him. Where, then, does education really live?

The second book of this course in culture turns from the root to its use. Its first six chapters ask how culture is passed from one generation to the next: by teaching, and more deeply by soaking, the silent way a child takes in how the grown-ups around him live. Its last seven chapters set today's new thing, the tool that talks, answers, and keeps people company, in its proper place: who makes it, who places it, who governs it, and why what holds the world up is still people who hurt, tire, and come to an end.

Its guides are the ancient Chinese teachers, Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, Han Yu, and others, in fresh translations and plain English, set beside the Western thinkers who reached nearby ground, from Comenius and Dewey to Polanyi and William James. Each section has learning goals, primary sources, key terms, open questions, and one small practice for the week.

Designed for a fifteen- or sixteen-week semester: one chapter a week, three sessions a chapter. It follows Book 1: Laying the Root, and a companion Teacher's Guide is available in the same series.

The book sets out the positions and passes no verdict. It ends where it began: when the bad baton is passed into your hand, pause for half a second before you act.