[3] A confluence is seen in which acquiescence to academic expertise increases at the same time that core questions as human nature, right and wrong, art, equality, justice, progress, religion etc.

The uniformity of this expert opinion, along with ignorance by students of alternatives, is then seen as a relatively straightforward cause of very significant changes in society, rules, laws, regulations, expectations, and attitudes that come to mirror this post-modern world view.

It was reviewed in The Chronicle of Higher Education in the article "Dreaming of a World With No Intellectuals",[4] in Commentary magazine in the article "Reign of Ignorance",[5] In a National Review interview "Dismantling Culture",[6] as well as in Publishers Weekly, which said the book's "historical account of American educational reform is intriguing," but faulted its author's "unapologetic partisanship" and use of "simplistic metaphors and propagandist catchphrases.

"[7] Stephen Daisley wrote in Commentary magazine that Gelernter portrays Obama's presidency as a symbol of the failure of American education and the success of its replacement with a liberal indoctrination system.

As a solution, Gelernter proposes moving all of human knowledge to online servers so that the in-person college experience can be replaced by user-driven self-education.