The headmaster of my high school once offered some wise thoughts on a teacher who claimed he was reluctant to inflict his opinions on students. “What utter nonsense,” Mr. Jarvis hissed. He went on to explain that education by nature involves teachers inflicting their opinions on students, from their pedagogical methods to texts they choose. Thankfully, Roosevelt Montás is another educator who is not afraid to inflict his opinions on students. His new book, Rescuing Socrates (reviewed here earlier by Douglas Henry), offers a robust and unapologetic argument that liberal education, centered around the great books, should be the foundation of every university education. But that is where the infliction of opinions should end: true liberal education focuses on the personal and intellectual development of the students, not on their professors’ views. “I am not advocating for more students to major in the liberal arts,” he writes, “but for liberal education to serve as the foundation for every major.”
