Education is our means to instruct our youth in the values and accomplishments
of our civilization and to prepare them for adult life. For centuries, arguments
have been made about what an education means and how to distinguish
an educated person from an uneducated one. Two views have contended for our
allegiance since the time of the ancient Greeks [Marrou 1956]. One perspective
is the rational and humane vision of the Sophists and later the philosopherteacher
Isocrates, for whom the test of an education was its ability to prepare a
citizen to engage in public affairs. The other view is that of Plato and Socrates,
who taught that education must guide the student toward an uncovering of the
Truth and Beauty that underlie our human experience, the universal themes and
natural laws that a well schooled mind can discern beneath the surface confusion
of life and the awakening of the spirit within, that allow us to care intensely about
life and learning.