SCHOOL OF GREAT BOOKS

The Platonic Academy, the model of all educational institutions up to this very day, was founded, in times which resemble ours, not to serve but to be served, was founded not with regard to the wishes or needs of the practical order but against it. It did prepare its students, it seems, to a life never outside its own scope. It imposed upon them rules whose origin was not submission but rather opposition to the practical order. It did not try to descend to a lower level but rather to elevate the practical order to its own. It is perhaps unique in this respect. Its heritage is the very idea of education. For to educate a person, is to lead him out of those regions in which he cannot see the light.