 God 's Choice : The Total World of a Fundamentalist Christian School is a 1986 book written by Alan Peshkin . It is a profile of an Illinois Christian fundamentalist school — its policies , practices , and participants . Peshkin , then Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at <unk> – <unk> , intended his account to be both impartial and " <unk> " . He presents the fundamentalists as disciplined , dedicated , and determined with " formulas for success " opposite " fragmented and defensive " detractors . They believe in " one Truth " — God 's plan — and reject philosophies of multiple truths . A teacher told Peshkin that their job is to prepare students for this " one pattern " of thought . In turn , the community 's constituents do not wish to leave , but appreciate conformity as an end in itself . Peshkin describes the school as a " total institution " : a place where many similar people live by their own formal rules apart from outside society , as based on Erving Goffman 's 1961 essay . Peshkin asserts that this was a natural conclusion from a school " based on absolute truth " . God 's Choice was the third book in his series of studies on school – community relationships . It was published by the University of Chicago Press . 
