Disciplined Minds

Disciplined Minds (A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes their Lives) is a masterful critique of academic and professional training. Jeff Schmidt describes how professionals are made; the methods of professional and graduate schools that turn eager entering students into disciplined managerial and intellectual workers that correctly perceive and apply the employer's doctrine and outlook. Schmidt uses the examples of law, medicine, and physics, and describes methods that students and professional workers can use to preserve their personalities and independent thought. Schmidt was fired from his position of 19 years as Associate Editor at Physics Today after the book was published. 750 academics, including Noam Chomsky, signed public letters denouncing his dismissal as politically motivated. The case was settled out of court in 2006, with Schmidt's reinstatement and award of a 'substantial' cash settlement. This is an audiobook version read by Lyn Gerry for the Unwelcome Guests radio show.