Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977)

As I read this book, there were many times that I went to the computer, ready to share a gem of a sentence or a passage with my friends on Facebook or with my readers on my website. Each time I did so, however, I had to stop myself – fight myself even – and walk away from the computer. If I had shared every sentence and every passage I wanted to share, I would have ended up quoting the entire book! From beginning to end, this short book is a giant, shining gem.

Robert Hutchins, playing show more the part of the great social doctor of Western Civilization, diagnoses the ailment that has come to pervade nearly every aspect of our culture and offers the prescription that could cure us of this otherwise fatal illness. We ourselves have been and now educate our children as, essentially, automatons. Drunk under the influence of Dewey and decline, and at the wheel of the greatest military-economic-political-cultural bloc the world has ever seen, we are a threat to ourselves and others. Hutchins wrote this book over 50 years ago, and the situation has only gotten worse since then. We live in a nation – the United States – and, in the bigger picture, a culture – Western – and a even world, in which the masses have been given ever more leisure time, more political power, and more say in their own lives and in the lives of others through democratic and republican forms of government. And yet these same masses, as anyone can plainly see by watching the evening news or just having a conversation with the man behind the counter at the gas station, are pitifully undereducated, miseducated, and uneducated. The average person has spent 13 years (if they have a high school degree) or perhaps 17 years (if they have a bachelor's degree) on what amounts to perhaps an 8th grade education! In short, we've given the car keys to a 12 year old!

And how do we set about remedying this situation before it destroys us and the world with us? Hutchins provides the answer: a good classical, liberal education. Modern Westerners are asked to elect their leaders, to make important decisions about economics, law, and war; how can they possibly be prepared to do so without having read Plato, Adam Smith, and James Madison? Modern Westerners are asked to digest new and amazing scientific discoveries and technological advances; how can they possibly be expected to do so without some familiarity with Newton, Kepler, and Aristotle? They cannot and they will not be able to fully function in the roles the modern world demands of them until they have thoroughly familiarized themselves with the ideas and thinkers that came before them and built the world they live in.

More than that, and of more importance by far, is the exercise and attainment of the fullness of humanity. Modern man, in addition to the increased authority and responsibility already mentioned, also has more leisure time and circumstances more conducive to the production of intellectual capital than his ancestors of any previous time. The question now is: is modern man to waste his existence as a sad, pitiful half animal-half machine, working, eating, sleeping, passing the time in video games and cheap entertainment, or is he to reach for the fullness of his own humanity, to contemplate the universe and his place in it, the origin and destiny of humanity, the possibilities of what is beyond him? The answer to that question is one that each of us must make for himself and for his children.

I recommend this book to anyone with children of schooling age, to anyone who places value on education and intelligence, and to anyone who wants to be a human being in the fullest sense of the word – in other words, I recommend this book for everyone. show less

There are some good essays in this volume, mixed in with some painfully dull, pointless reads that I'd recommend skimming. If you want a great way to be introduced to a lot of different classic authors, this is a good book to pick up.

This is an extended speech about the virtues of reading directly the books considered to be lasting classics. The choice of such books by the editorial board assembled by the Encyclopedia Britannica's board of directors, reflects the concerns of 1950's USA. admitting that limitation, since this book predates books like "The Medium is the Massage" by Marshal McLuhan, and "Mankind and Mother Earth" by Arnold Toynbee, which have been written since, it is a good set of epigrams to reinforce the show more idea that the ordinary mind is better off to address the content of famous books by reading them directly rather than relying on popularization and editors. Fortunately some books are great because they are brilliant explanations of the ideas they espouse. If you address the great books, you will find them quite interesting. Having a list designed by someone else is useful, see if you agree with that list, and read such titles as you can agree on.
The other fact is that life-long reading is the only method for a person seeking education, and to say that youth is the time when your reading program should be completed short-changes the population. reread an old favourite and see how well it stands up, and try a book you didn't like and see if your experience has altered your opinion. Please!
This introduction is short and snappy, and even if you disagree with the list, you will be better off for the read. show less

I believe that herein lies, if not the answers to life, the universe, and everything, at least a minute and carefully specified description of it all. Sadly (or not) there is probably not enough time left in my life to read/comprehend it. Nice to know what he was about though. I skimmed mightily, read some, and enjoyed reading some, too.

The mind boggles at one man sitting down and writing this whole thing, let alone having students to teach and enemies to avoid. The reasoning of the workings show more of the world around him (reading specifically in the book "Atmosphere") is amazing. It is easy to think of these ancient peoples as being simple in their understanding because they lacked our scientific equipment, but they reasoned it out pretty well, considering!

I enjoyed reading his precise phrasing. He was not one to leave loopholes. Review is for both volumes. show less