Idealists believe that idea can change lives. Christianity was once merely an idea, and so was Marxism, but such ideas have transformed whole societies. Idealists think that humans can become more noble and rational by developing the ability to think. They have encouraged the use of the classics for humanizing learning experiences; whatever factors are involved in humanity’s evolutionary past, the idealist holds that the most important part of one’s being is the mind. It is to be nourished and developed. It can accumulate facts, but it also can conceptualize and create.