“Education for freedom consists in transmitting to the rising generation the civilization they have inherited, together with the techniques by which it may be understood.”
So wrote Robert Maynard Hutchins in his 1941 essay, “Education for Freedom,” which he later lengthened into a short book that appeared in 1943 under the same title. Hutchins (1899–1977) was an academic and intellectual superstar in his day, becoming president of the University of Chicago at the age of 30. Throughout his lifetime, he advocated for morals, values, critical thinking, and “the great conversation” as the heart of a real education, all acquired through the study of the liberal arts. Among his other endeavors, Hutchins was editor-in-chief of the 54-volume collection, “Great Books of the Western World.”
