Death of an Education?

In De Divisione Naturae, written in the 9th century, Erigena, more popularly known as John the Scot, wrote: "musica innata est quaedam communis secundam seipsam delectatio" - that is, "music, by its very nature, is a delight to everyone". In this talk I shall take his dictum as my central proposition, remembering that "diversi diversis delectantur" - "different people enjoy different things"; and that according to Vitruvius, "ars sine scientia nihil potest" - "art is powerless without knowledge".
In a recently published essay, Susan Sontag wrote: "Take care to be born at a time when it was likely that you would be definitely exalted and influenced by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and Turgenev, and Chekhov". I understand her enthusiasm for those four Russian writers, but the choice of examples for influence could be almost infinitely varied: on many lists would appear the names of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, for instance, as well as far less well-known authors.

What all these authors have in common is that they are serious, their work concerned with the most fundamental aspects of our humanity, our relationships with each other, and with our environment. All require time and patience to get to know. To return briefly to Susan Sontag: she adds something I think is most significant - "be serious, which doesn't preclude being funny".
An educated person could construct a list of authors who have influenced his whole life and outlook, and will be able to refer to characters and situations, and even to quote directly - it is extraordinary how, in Britain, phrases and characters from Shakespeare and Dickens have made their way into the collective imagination and into everyday conversation; although there are now attempts by educators to undermine this, and dumb down a young person's contact with literature, as if this were something from which the young must be shielded.