“ . . . we need the wisdom of the educational reformer Robert Maynard Hutchins”

You can’t see us, but we’re giving that statement a standing ovation. It’s from “The Man Who Could Make Your Kids Less Ignorant,” a Daily Beast article about Robert Maynard Hutchins, one of the founders of the Great Books Foundation. What would Hutchins think of a new Council of Foreign Relations and National Geographic survey shows that most American collegians are global illiterates? We assume he’d worry that illiterate students become ignorant citizens and that democracy can’t flourish with an ignorant populace. The article is a good reminder that Hutchins’ belief that student education should “unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects….” is as important as ever.