Education in America

From the author:

Increasing numbers of Americans express concern over the deterioration of modem society, accurately pinpointing various failings-social, political, and economic. Most of us are far better at discovering shortcomings than describing solutions. As the result, conversations on the American decline usually conclude with the following argument: Since society can be no better than the level of understanding displayed by its individual members, and since the individual’s understanding is based largely upon his educational experience, we can only arrest the national decline by “more education.”

I do not fault the argument as far as it goes, but the specific definition of “more education” seems open to question. Much of what passes for “education” today seems calculated to yield a product totally different from the properly educated individual. The sort of moral leadership required if our civilization is to endure must spring from vastly different premises than those which now dominate educational institutions.

This book came into existence as an attempt to examine some of the ideas which today so hamper our educational endeavors. Hopefully it also provides some definition of the proper educational values which should be substituted.