Using the Past to Rescue the Future (The Future of Education ‪)‬

EDITOR'S NOTE: The existential situation and the future course of education at all levels must inevitably conduce concern among both those involved in the learning process and all those variously affected by the consequences of theories and policies as those are formulated and administered. What we too often find, especially in the orphaned humanities, are undulant conditions that disclose unceasing deterioration in American education. It could be asserted, in fact, that we are caught in a meta-crisis of staggering proportions, when the cruel and cumulative process of the devaluation of right reason and humane principles has leapt even beyond the extremities of "intellectual nihilism" and "ideological antagonisms," which more than thirty years ago Lionel Trilling decried in Mind in the Modern World. Modern Age has consistently spoken out against the breakdown of traditional educational standards, and continues to do so, as seen in Professor Jude P. Dougherty's forceful essay on "Using the Past to Rescue the Future" in this issue. Earlier issues have included an editorial commentary on "School and Society: A Conservative Perspective" (Spring 2006) and Professor Hugh Mercer Curtler's "A Plea for Humanistic Education" (Fall 2006). Forthcoming issues will feature additional essays on the state of American education.