"A document of first-rate importance. . . . Sheer informed common sense. . . . This volume should be compulsory reading for all, whatever their religious beliefs or disbeliefs, who want light on the nature and place of education in our democratic society."—The Yale Review  One of the most eminent Catholic philosophers of our time explores the American system of education. Jacques Maritain believes that education must be based on the Christian idea of the individual being “more a whole than a part, and more independent than servile.”  In his view education is concerned with “making a man”—a person with “deep-rooted independence with regard to common opinion.”  This book is devoted to discovering how that can come about.