The old humanists represent the educated and cultured classes, such as the aristocracy and gentry. They value the old humanistic studies, and their product, the 'educated man', the cultured, well educated person. Thus their educational aim is 'liberal education', the transmission of the cultural heritage, made up of pure ( as opposed to applied ) knowledge in a number of traditional forms. The old humanists
argued that man's spiritual health depended on a kind of education which was more than a training for some specialized work, a kind variously described as 'liberal', 'humane', or 'cultura