ABSTRACT
The main intent of this and the following two chapters is to sketch an account of what should actually be taught, and hopefully learned, as an adequate body of a liberal education. It is necessary to prepare the ground for this. One of the major faults of many of the proposals for an appropriate curriculum for universal and compulsory schooling is that lists of subjects are laid out without any real attempt at explanation or justification of why one should favour the particular list being offered. What is necessary is to show at some length why the particular recommendations are made.
