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December 6, 2007
Marsha Familaro Enright
Educator, psychotherapist and writer
in a lively conversation
Capitalism vs.
Authoritarianism
A Novelist of the Far
East on an Inevitable Conflict
 Marsha Familaro Enright will introduce us to the writer James Clavell. He was a fabulously successful author of such engrossing and thrilling, blockbuster novels as
Tai-Pan and Shogun.
He was one of the few contemporary writers who cast businessmen as heroes.
She'll tell you about his background, his role in Hollywood, and his connection to Ayn Rand. You'll learn about his literary style, including his plots and characterization.
Enright wrote about James Clavell in The New
Individualist. The editor of The New Individualist wrote: "Many readers have enjoyed the profiles of authors
Tom
Wolfe and Cameron
Hawley that Marsha Enright has written for past issues of The New Individualist. This time, she introduces us to another of her favorite writers: James Clavell, whose thrilling romantic novels set in the Far East have beguiled
millions. Enright also had an article in The New Individualist about the non-fiction children's book
An Airplane Is
Born. The book is by Ilana Dover, a Montessori teacher interested in Objectivism. This is the first in
Dover's planned series of books about heroes for pre-school
children.
Enright's series of articles profiling authors is a result of her love of reading fiction (and her love of art in general), plus psychology and philosophy. She has a strong natural tendency to share beautiful, enjoyable and enlightening works with others. It's all related to her strong teaching inclination.
She's always searching for engrossing, dramatic fiction. When she finds a good book, in addition to enjoying the story,
she tends to analyze what's so good about it, esthetically, psychologically and philosophically.
The authors she's written about particularly intrigued her: Hawley and Clavell because they see that business can be an heroic
activity, and Wolfe because he's in love with the culture of the U.S. He sees it as a result of our individual freedom. He might not put it that way, but
Enright thinks it accurately describes the attitude she enjoys in his writing.
Enright lives in Chicago, Illinois. Articles on other subjects
Among Enright's articles are "Montessori Often Begins With Ayn
Rand," "The Habit of Hope," "If Emotions Aren't Tools of Cognition...What Are
They?" "Foundations Study Guide to Montessori
Education," "Why Man Needs Approval," "On the Evolutionary Neuropsychology of Music" and "The Montessori
Way." You can read these articles
online.
Creating a Montessori elementary school
Enright, who has an M.A. in psychology, became riveted with the problems of education when she was a child. She found herself in love with learning and school while surrounded by other children who were miserable.
This was a mystery to her. She didn't want such misery to befall her future children. It led her on a life-long quest for effective and enjoyable education.
During college, she discovered the ideas and methods of Maria Montessori which presented ingenious, psychologically effective means of creating a happy hotbed of learning for young students.
In 1990 she founded Council Oak Montessori Elementary School as a place for her own children to
learn.
The school's first class was 17 students. A few years later the school had 75 students. It continues successfully to this day with about 100 students ages three to fourteen years.
The October 2006 issue of Chicago Magazine named the Council Oak Montessori Elementary School one of the top 25 private elementary schools in Chicago.
Creating the College of the United States
As Marsha's expertise in education grew, so did her concern and discontent with higher education.
She saw more and more students graduating from college unequipped to think for themselves. They lacked important knowledge and life skills, as well as the most basic understanding of what is necessary for a fully free society.
Frighteningly, these included many students from the "best" universities in the U.S. such as Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Stanford.
She was alarmed at the problems and unhappiness caused by these developments, as well as the threat they pose for civil society.
Marsha had considerable knowledge about effective means of education. She understood the fearful grip collectivism has in all forms of higher education.
She was convinced the country needed a new college, dedicated to reason, individualism and a fully free society. She's the developed the College and has team members. It's scheduled to open September 2009.
You can read about the College
of the United States and the team members online. Enright previously spoke at Junto in February 2006, as part
of "Ayn Rand 101." For
more information on this Junto event, including time,
location, and other features of the meeting see the December
Junto page.
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