Robert Maynard Hutchins

university education intellect fact theory law amuse think

"My view of university training is to unsettle the minds of young men, to widen their horizons, to inflame their intellects. It is not a hardening, or settling process. Education is not to teach men facts, theories, or laws; it is not to reform them, or amuse them, or to make them expert technicians in any field; it is to teach them to think, to think straight if possible; but to think always for themselves."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

education books tradition mankind

"Until lately the West has regarded it as self-evident that the road to education lay through great books. No man was educated unless he was acquainted with the masterpieces of his tradition. There never was much doubt in anybody's mind about which the masterpieces were. They were the books that had endured and that the common voice of mankind called the finest creations, in writing, of the Western tradition."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

experimental science technique method

"Because of experimental science we know a very large number of things about the natural world of which our predecessors were ignorant. In the great books we can observe the birth of science, applaud the development of the experimental technique, and celebrate the triumphs it has won. But we can also note the limitations of the method and mourn the errors that its misapplication has caused. We can distinguish the outlines of those great persistent problems that the method ... may never solve and find the clues to their solutions offered by other methods and other disciplines."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

liberal education leisure political power

"Liberal education was aristocratic in the sense that it was the education of those who enjoyed leisure and political power. If it was the right education for those who had leisure and political power, then it is the right education for everybody today."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

American high school illiterate college university uneducated

"The products of American high schools are illiterate; and a degree from a famous college or university is no guarantee that the graduate is in any better case. One of the most remarkable features of American society is that the difference between the "uneducated" and the "educated" is so slight."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

democracy death ambush extinction apathy indifference

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

education prepare heutagogy

“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

football fraternity fun university

“Football, fraternities, and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to entertain those who shouldn’t be in the university.”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

art teaching interesting people

“The art of teaching consists in large part of interesting people in things that ought to interest them, but do not”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

liberal education free prison class race nation

“A liberal education... frees a man from the prison-house of his class, race, time, place, background, family and even his nation.”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

administrative campus sex students athletics alumni parking

"The three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni, and parking for the faculty."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

education reform amuse student expert technician unsettle mind

"Education is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

serious important expression

"It is not so important to be serious as it is to be serious about the important things. The monkey wears an expression of seriousness which would do credit to any college student, but the monkey is serious because he itches."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

university distinguish trade school center criticism

"There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

solve problem think collect fact

"To solve a problem it is necessary to think. It is necessary to think even to decide what facts to collect."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

college graduate sheepskid intellectual nakedness

"The college graduate is presented with a sheepskin to cover his intellectual nakedness."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

education unsettle mind inflame intellect

"My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

education purpose facts think

"It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts... it is to teach them to think."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

best education all

"The best education for the best is the best education for all."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

civilization controversy important issues totalitarianism death

"A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the way to totalitarianism and death."

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

people time urgent important

"Most people spend their time on the 'urgent' rather than on the 'important.'"

— Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)