The Three Crises in Western Education

America is, in fact, the leading case in point of what may be thought of as the third great crisis in Western education. The first occurred in the fifth century H.C., when Athens underwent a change from an oral culture to an alphabet-writing culture. To understand what this meant, we must read Plato. The second occurred in the sixteenth century, when Europe underwent a radical transformation as a result of the printing press. To understand what this meant, we must read John Locke. The third i...