Good quote from David V. Hicks’ Norms & Nobility with a great metaphor at the end:
“Purged of pagan complexity and Christian mystery, modern education’s habit of considering everything analytically as a physical datum fails to inspire change in the learner. Philosophy, religion, history, literature–all become mere physical data. This posture of analytical value-free learning diametrically opposes the wisdom of both pagan and Christian paideia. It methodically strips our cultural inheritance in the arts and letters of its normative richness and encourages modern youth in the deadly presumption of amoral action. The way a modern youth learns does not admit, let alone emphasize, the connection between knowledge and responsibility. Yet to paraphrase Bacon in a context he now deserves: to give man knowledge is to give him a sword. To teach man the devastating science of swordsmanship and not the moral implications and responsibilities that come with wielding a sword is to unloose upon the world both a murderer and a victim. This is a tragedy in both instances, since modern man’s eleventh hour plea of ignorance in regard to his responsibilities will be–despite his vast stores of piecemeal knowledge–quite useless to save him.”
–from the chapter “The Promise of Christian Paideia” (p.99)<>
