These essays are required reading for anyone interested in what happened to a country that once contained some of the most brilliant minds in history and, now, cannot even produce a literate, independently thinking individual. Who dumbed down America, and how did they do it? John Taylor Gatto gives some insights into this coup Hamza Yusuf Hanson delves into the meaning of education from a holistic perspective, and Dorothy Sayers, in very concise and at times humorous language, describes what a real education entails. These readings are a must for anyone concerned about protecting their children from an educational system designed to provide anything but an education.

Hamza Yusuf's Biography
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf embraced Islam in 1977. He spent several years studying in the Middle East and Africa under numerous scholars. Currently, he is the director of the Zaytuna Institute, in California, which is dedicated to the Revival of Islamic Sciences and the preservation of traditional teaching methods.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson was born in Walla Walla, Washington and raised in Northern California.

He became Muslim in 1977 in Santa Barbara, California and subsequently moved to the Middle East and studied Arabic and Islam for four years in the United Arab Emirates and later in Madina, Algeria, Morocco, and West Africa for many years. He received teaching licenses in various Islamic subjects from several well-known scholars in various countries. After a ten-year sojourn of studies abroad, he returned to the USA and took degrees in nursing from Imperial Valley College and religious studies at San Jose State University.

He has traveled all over the world giving talks on Islam. He is the co-founder of Zaytuna Institute, which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. Shaykh Hamza has translated several classical texts from Arabic and presently teaches at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California. He lives in California with his wife and children.