Americans are spending more time in school than ever before, but with what result? WFB's touchstone illustration: "In 1858, 60 per cent of the American people were literate. In 1960, 85 per cent were literate, and during that period we traveled between the debates of Lincoln-Douglas and Kennedy-Nixon." Mr. Adler's preferred solution: "If I could say this without being heard by anybody I would abolish all schools of education." Meanwhile, he advises, cultivate a proper perspective on academic specialization: "No one can be a specialist any longer in more than one field. I feel just as comfortable being a generalist in the 20th century as Aristotle was in the 4th century B.C. ... When I talk about an educated person, I'm talking about a generally cultivated human being, not a specialist."