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Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was the 5th president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, and earlier dean of
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
(1927–1929). His first wife was the novelist Maude Hutchins. Although his father and grandfather were both
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
ministers, Hutchins became one of the most influential members of the school of secular perennialism. A graduate of
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
and the
law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...
of
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, Hutchins joined the law faculty and soon was named dean. While dean, he gained notice for Yale's development of the philosophy of
legal realism Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law; it is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science; that is, it should rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Leg ...
. Hutchins was thirty years old when he became Chicago's president in 1929, and implemented wide-ranging and sometimes controversial reforms of the university, including the elimination of varsity football. He supported interdisciplinary programs, including during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, establishing the Metallurgical Laboratory. His most far-reaching academic reforms involved the undergraduate
College of the University of Chicago The College of the University of Chicago is the university's sole undergraduate institution and one of its oldest components, emerging contemporaneously with the university's Hyde Park campus in 1892. The College is notable for pioneering a now-w ...
, which was retooled into a novel pedagogical system built on
Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
,
Socratic dialogue Socratic dialogue () is a genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works of Plato and Xenophon and all involve Socrates as the protagonist. These dialogues, and subse ...
,
comprehensive examination In higher education, a comprehensive examination (or comprehensive exam or exams), often abbreviated as "comps", is a specific type of Test (assessment), examination that must be completed by graduate students in some disciplines and courses of st ...
s and early entrance to college. Although parts of the Hutchins Plan were abandoned by the University shortly after Hutchins left in 1951, an adapted version of the program survived at
Shimer College Shimer Great Books School ( ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, or ...
. Hutchins left Chicago for the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
, where he channeled resources into studying education. In 1954 he became president of a Ford Foundation spinoff devoted to civil liberties, the Fund for the Republic. In 1959, he founded the
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
, a think tank in Santa Barbara, California.


Early life and career

Robert Maynard Hutchins was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
in 1899, the second of three sons of William James Hutchins, a Presbyterian minister and future
Berea College Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. It was integrated from as early as 1866 ...
president. Eight years later, the family moved to
Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located about southwest of Cleveland within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin ...
, site of
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
, where William Hutchins became an instructor. Oberlin was a small community dedicated to evangelical ideals of righteousness and hard work, which had a lifelong influence on Hutchins. Hutchins studied at Oberlin Academy and subsequently
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
from 1915 to 1917. At age 18 in 1917, shortly after the United States entered
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Hutchins joined the ambulance service of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
, together with his brother William. The Hutchins brothers served in an all-Oberlin unit, Section 587, which for much of the war was stationed at the Allentown Fair Grounds, where they were tasked with creating a
barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...
. Upon subsequent deployment to Italy, Hutchins was awarded the Croce al Merito di Guerra. Returning from the war in 1919, Hutchins went to
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
( B.A. 1921). At Yale he encountered a very different society from what he had known before at Oberlin; the tone was set by preparatory school graduates who defied
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
. However, Hutchins did not enjoy the same level of financial support, and in his junior and senior years, he worked menial jobs for up to six hours per day to cover living expenses. In his senior year, he was tapped for the Wolf's Head Society. Having already fulfilled his graduation requirements, he also enrolled in
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
. Fascinated by the
case method The case method is a teaching approach that uses decision-forcing cases to put students in the role of people who were faced with difficult decisions at some point in the past. It developed during the course of the twentieth-century from its or ...
, Hutchins subsequently regarded this as the beginning of his true education. Shortly after his graduation in 1921, Hutchins married Maude Phelps McVeigh. They had three daughters together, the first born in 1925. They divorced in 1948, and in 1949 he married Vesta Orlick, who had formerly been his secretary. After spending a year teaching high school
History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and English in
Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...
, he was hired to become the Secretary of the
Yale Corporation The Yale Corporation, officially The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Assembly of corporation The Corporation comprises 19 members: * Three ex officio members: the Preside ...
. In this position he was the principal assistant to the president of Yale, with responsibility for alumni relations and fundraising. Returning to New Haven, he also resumed his studies at
Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...
( LL.B 1925). Upon completing his LL.B., graduating at the top of his class, he was invited to join the Yale Law faculty, teaching courses on
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
and utility law. He became acting Dean of Yale Law School in 1927, and full Dean in 1928. It was at this point, when he was the Dean of Yale Law while still in his 20s, that Hutchins became a national figure. At the time, Yale Law School was dominated by the Legal Realists and Hutchins sought to promote Legal Realism during his time as dean. Skeptical of the received rules of evidence that he had taught as a professor, he worked to integrate the findings of psychology, sociology and logic with the law. His supporters in this enterprise included
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975. Douglas was known for his strong progressive and civil libertari ...
, who left Columbia School of Law to work under Hutchins at Yale. Hutchins played a key role in convincing the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
to fund an Institute of Human Relations at Yale, to foster partnerships between the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
and law and medicine.


University of Chicago tenure

In 1929, he moved to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, Illinois, to become President of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
at the age of 30, the youngest university president in the country. Over the next several years, Hutchins came to question Legal Realism, which he had previously championed, and grew skeptical of the ability of
empirical research Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. It is also a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. Empiricism values some research more than other kinds. Empirical evidence (the record of one ...
in the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
to solve social problems, especially in the face of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. Particularly through contact with
Mortimer Adler Mortimer is an English surname. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; one 11th century figure associ ...
, he became convinced that the solution to the philosophical problems facing the university lay in
Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by Prior Analytics, deductive logic and an Posterior Analytics, analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics ...
and
Thomism Thomism is the philosophical and theological school which arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Thomas's disputed ques ...
. In the late 1930s, Hutchins attempted to reform the
curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...
of the University of Chicago along Aristotelian-Thomist lines, only to have the faculty reject his proposed reforms three times. Hutchins served as President of the University of Chicago until 1945, and as the University's Chancellor until 1951. During his Chancellorship, he recruited a commission to inquire into the proper function of the media. By 1947, the Hutchins Commission issued their report on the "social responsibility" of the press. Hutchins was notable as a defender of academic freedom. When the University was accused of fostering communism in 1935 (by
Charles Rudolph Walgreen Charles Rudolph Walgreen (October 9, 1873 – December 11, 1939) was an American businessman and the founder of Walgreens. Background Walgreen was born on a farm near Galesburg, Illinois before moving to Dixon, Illinois, in 1887. He was the so ...
, who claimed his niece had been indoctrinated with communist ideas whilst studying there) and again in 1949, Hutchins defended the right of the University's faculty to teach as they wished, arguing that the best way to defeat communism was through open debate and scrutiny, rather than suppression. "Hutchins stood behind his faculty and their right to teach and believe as they wished, insisting that communism could not withstand the scrutiny of public analysis and debate." Hutchins was able to implement his ideas regarding a two-year, generalist bachelors during his tenure at Chicago, and subsequently had designated those studying in depth in a field as masters students. He moreover pulled Chicago out of the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...
and eliminated the school's increasingly struggling football program, which he saw as a campus distraction. Hutchins heaped scorn upon schools which received more press coverage for their sports teams than for their educational programs, and the trustees provided the support he needed to drop football in December
1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...
. The decision was met with mixed reactions, with many students and alumni opposing the abolition of what had been seen as a major element of the University's culture. Within a year, however, an overwhelming majority of students, alumni, and professors had aligned behind Hutchins's vision for a University that emphasized education above athletics. Hutchins today serves as a model for those who argue that commercialized college sports are incompatible with the academic and intellectual aims of institutions of higher learning. He also worked to eliminate
fraternities A fraternity (; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in the Western conce ...
and religious organizations for the same reason. While he exhibited great fervor for his curricular project and numerous notable alumni were produced during the period, nevertheless, the business community as well as donors became highly skeptical of the value of the program, and eventually were able to have the four-year, traditional A.B. and S.B. reinstated (and in time, football). The College's financial clout, which had been considerable prior to his tenure, underwent a serious downgrading with decreased collegiate enrollment and a drying up of donations from the school's principal Chicago area benefactors. As such, his critics view him as a dangerous idealist who pushed the school out of the national limelight and temporarily thwarted its possible expansion, while his supporters argue that it was his changes that kept Chicago intellectually unique and from taking on the vocational inclinations that he denigrated in his writings.


Later life and legacy

After leaving his position at the University, Hutchins became an officer of the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
. Due to the rapid growth of the US automotive industry in the early 1950s, the Ford Foundation was running such large surpluses that it attracted unwanted attention from the
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
. Hutchins was thus able to steer substantial funds into his areas of interest, establishing the Fund for the Advancement of Education and Fund for Adult Education. The Fund for the Advancement of Education sponsored projects including nationwide
teacher training Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...
and college early entrance programs at 12 colleges. The programs at three of these colleges,
Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...
, the
University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
, and
Shimer College Shimer Great Books School ( ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, or ...
, continue in operation today. The Fund for Adult Education sponsored experimental educational programs for adults, chiefly in the
liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...
; these included the
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It op ...
network which later became
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
. In 1954 Hutchins became president of the Fund for the Republic, which promoted civil liberties with $15 million from the Ford Foundation. After leaving the Fund for the Republic, Hutchins founded the
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
in 1959, which was his attempt to bring together a community of scholars to analyze this broad area. Hutchins described the Center's goal as examining democratic institutions "by taking a multidisciplinary look at the state of the democratic world – and the undemocratic world as well, because one has to contrast the two and see how they are going to develop." He further stated, "After discovering what is going on, or trying to discover what is going on, the Center offers its observations for such public consideration as the public is willing to give them". While modified and reduced in form, the collegiate curriculum at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
to this day reflects the
Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
and
Socratic method The Socratic method (also known as the method of Elenchus or Socratic debate) is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals based on asking and answering questions. Socratic dialogues feature in many of the works of the ancient Greek ...
championed by Hutchins' Secular Perennialism. In addition, a direct descendant of the program continues in operation at
Shimer College Shimer Great Books School ( ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, or ...
in Chicago, which was affiliated with the University until the mid-1950s. A classroom and scholarship for early entrants at Shimer still bear his name. A somewhat more distantly related program is operated at St. John's College.
Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...
in '' The Demon-Haunted World'' says that he was "lucky enough" to have studied under Hutchins, "where science was presented as an integral part of the gorgeous tapestry of human knowledge." The Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma is named in honor of Hutchins. Along with
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
, Hutchins was one of the sponsors of the Peoples' World Convention (PWC), also known as Peoples' World Constituent Assembly (PWCA), which took place in 1950-51 at Palais Electoral,
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, Switzerland.


Educational theory

Throughout his career, Hutchins was a fierce proponent of using those select books that have gained a reputation of being
great books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
as an educational tool. In his interview in 1970 titled, "Don't Just Do Something", Hutchins explained, "...the Great Books rethe most promising avenue to liberal education if only because they are teacher-proof." Illustrating his dedication to the Great Books, Hutchins served as Editor In Chief of ''
Great Books of the Western World ''Great Books of the Western World'' is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952, by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., to present the great books in 54 volumes. The original editors had three criteria for including a b ...
'' and ''
Gateway to the Great Books ''Gateway to the Great Books'' is a 10-volume collection of classic fiction and nonfiction literature edited by Mortimer Adler and Robert Maynard Hutchins, with Clifton Fadiman credited as associate editor, that was published by Encyclopædia ...
''. Additionally, he served as coeditor of ''The Great Ideas Today'', Chairman of the Board of Editors of ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'' from 1943 to 1974, and also published extensively under his own name. According to Hutchins in ''The University of Utopia'', "The object of the educational system, taken as a whole, is not to produce hands for industry or to teach the young how to make a living. It is to produce responsible citizens". In ''The University of Utopia'', Hutchins describes a country that has evolved to become the perfect society, Utopia, as well as their educational system, which has the well-defined purpose of "promot ngthe intellectual development of the people". Hutchins also explores some of the improper directions educational institutions have taken in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. He argues that education is becoming nothing more than a
trade school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational ...
, and a poor trade school at that. Hutchins discusses the relationship between a foundry and the local college in a particular town in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. This college offers courses on doing foundry work, which instruct students to become workers at the foundry. In this way, the college is satisfying the need of the community for foundry workers rather than the intellectual needs of the individual. Further, Hutchins asserts that the foundry students actually receive poor training since educators do not have the practical experience of working in the foundry. Hutchins believes the students would receive a much more efficient and thorough education on working in a foundry by actually working in that foundry. He claims Universities should instead teach intellectual content, specifically the intellectual content related to the occupation, but that the occupation itself should take responsibility for training its employees. Hutchins also warns that education has shifted its focus from being educational to custodial. He charges that many schools have become no more than baby-sitting services for adolescents, protecting them from the tumultuous world of youth. He cites courses in home economics and driver's education as focusing on meeting a societal need rather than an educational goal. Hutchins also berates education for the path it has taken regarding specialization. According to Hutchins in his essay, "The Idea of a College," the specialization of American education has robbed students of the ability to communicate with other students outside of their field. He argues that a student of
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
cannot converse meaningfully with a student of
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
because they share no common educational experience. In ''The University of Utopia'', Hutchins outlines the educational experience of young Utopians, where the first ten years of instruction prepare students for the learning experiences to come. Communication is the primary skill developed. Students learn to read, write, and discuss issues in preparation for their future lifetime of learning. Students study science and mathematics, which form part of the groundwork for future learning.
History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
, and
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
are also studied to add to the framework for even deeper learning later in life. Finally, art and music are studied because these are considered the elements that make society great. Throughout these fields of study in Utopia, the Great Books, those books that shaped Western thought, are used as study material and are discussed by classes using the
Socratic method The Socratic method (also known as the method of Elenchus or Socratic debate) is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals based on asking and answering questions. Socratic dialogues feature in many of the works of the ancient Greek ...
. The Socratic method, named for
Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...
and his method of teaching, involves the teacher's keeping the discussion on topic and guiding it away from errors of logic. In a discussion conducted in accordance with Socratic principles, unexamined opinions are fair game, and only reason itself is the final arbiter. Thus, any conclusions reached in such a discussion are the individual's own, not necessarily those of a class consensus, and certainly not necessarily the teacher's. The Great Books are a natural choice, since they are considered to be works of genius, timeless, and ever relevant to society. Why settle for lesser materials when you can have the best? Despite his other foci, Hutchins does not entirely shun the laboratory world; he believes, however, that some such things are best learned through discovery once a student has been graduated to the outside world. In Utopia, initial schooling is followed by college, which continues the study of a highly prescribed curriculum. Here, however, the focus shifts from learning the techniques of communication to exploring some of man's principal concepts of the world and the leading ideas that have propelled mankind. After college, students sit for an extensive exam created by an outside board, which reflects what an education appropriate to a free person should be. This rigorous exam is similar to those taken throughout a student's education but is more comprehensive. When the student passes this exam, he or she is awarded a Bachelor of Arts Degree. The degree is conferred based on the mastery of this information, not on the number of classes taken, credits earned, or hours spent in class. After proving that they have the necessary education to become a part of the republic of learning and of the political republic, the student may enter the work world or continue his or her formal education at the University. Once departing from formal education, a lifetime of learning follows for the citizens of Utopia. They visit centers of learning to explore and discuss ideas and analyze great works. These centers of learning are residential institutions where citizens go during what Americans would traditionally think of as vacation time. If they choose to matriculate to University, students begin to specialize, but they do not study collection of data, technical training, or solutions to immediate practical problems, but rather they explore the intellectual ideas specific to their chosen field. Here, students study in much less formal situations but with no less vigor. During their initial schooling and college, students had to prove that they could learn independently; if they then chose to attend a University, they were expected to make effective use of those skills. In addition to Hutchins's belief that school should pursue intellectual ideas rather than practical, he also believed that schools should not teach a specific set of values. "It is not the object of a college to make its students good, because the college cannot do it; if it tries to do it, it will fail; it will weaken the agencies that should be discharging this responsibility, and it will not discharge its own responsibility." The schools should not be in the business of teaching students what is right and just; it should be in the business of helping students make their own determinations. Critics will point out that the great books do not have one answer to what justice is or is not. In fact, there are many contradictory answers to this question. But what some see as a weakness, Hutchins sees as a strength. Hutchins asserts that students should be exposed to these conflicting ideas so that they may weigh and balance them in their own minds, boiling down the arguments and synthesizing a view of their own. In this way, and only in this way, can students learn what justice, beauty, and good really are.


Works

*1936, ''No Friendly Voice'' *1936, ''The Higher Learning in America'' *1943, ''Education for Freedom'' *1945, ''The Atomic Bomb versus Civilization'' *1947, ''The Education We Need'' *1947, ''The Works of the Mind: The Administrator'' *1949, ''St. Thomas and the World State'' *1949, ''The State of the University, 1929–1949'' *1950 ''Morals, Religion, and Higher Education'' *1950, ''The Idea of a College'' *1952,
The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education
' (includes ''The Tradition of the West'') *1953, ''The University of Utopia'' *1953, ''The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society'' *1954, ''Great Books: The Foundation of a Liberal Education'' *1956, ''Some Observations on American Education'' *1956, ''Freedom, education and the Fund; essays and addresses, 1946–1956'' *1963, ''Gateway to the Great Books'' *1968, ''The Learning Society'' *1968, '' Zuckerkandl!'' *1969, ''No Friendly Voice'' (reprint) *1972, ''Prospects for a Learning Society''


See also

* Educational perennialism *
Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
*
Great Books of the Western World ''Great Books of the Western World'' is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952, by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., to present the great books in 54 volumes. The original editors had three criteria for including a b ...
*
Liberal education A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation of a free () human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment. It has been d ...
*
College of the University of Chicago The College of the University of Chicago is the university's sole undergraduate institution and one of its oldest components, emerging contemporaneously with the university's Hyde Park campus in 1892. The College is notable for pioneering a now-w ...
* Shimer Great Books School, and * St. John's College whose Great Books Curricula are derived from the Hutchins Plan


References


Sources

* Ashmore, Harry Scott. ''Unseasonable Truths: The Life of Robert Maynard Hutchins''. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1989. *Bates, Stephen. ''An Aristocracy of Critics: Luce, Hutchins, Niebuhr, and the Committee That Redefined Freedom of the Press''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020. . *Berwick, Keith. (1970). Interview with Robert M. Hutchins (transcript)
Don't Just Do Something
*Dzuback, Mary Ann. ''Robert M. Hutchins: Portrait of an Educator''. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1991. . *''Encyclopædia Britannica''. (2001). Hutchins, Robert M. Retrieved July 6, 2004, from the University of Pennsylvania, English Department, Al Filreis, The Literature and Culture of the 1950s: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/hutchins-bio.html *Hutchins, Robert M. (1950). ''The Idea of a College''. Retrieved 2012-08-15, http://www.ditext.com/hutchins/1950.html *Hutchins, Robert M. (1953) ''The University of Utopia''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. . *Kelly, Frank K. ''Court of Reason – Robert Hutchins and the Fund for the Republic''. New York: The Free Press, 1981 * MacAloon, John J., ed. ''General Education in the Social Sciences: Centennial Reflections on the College of the University of Chicago'' (1992) *Mayer, Milton (1993). ''Robert Maynard Hutchins: A Memoir''. University of California Press. . * McArthur, Benjamin. “A Gamble on Youth: Robert M. Hutchins, the University of Chicago, and the Politics of Presidential Selection.” ''History of Education Quarterly'' 30 (1990): 161– 86. *McNeill, William H. (1991). ''Hutchins' University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago, 1929–1950''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. * Martín, Àngel Pascual. "Liberal education, residential practices and collegial life in the age of Great Universities in the US. Chicago and President Hutchins’ policy." ''Espacio, Tiempo y Educación'' 10.1 (2023): 77-94
online
*Purcell, Edward A., Jr. (1973), ''The Crisis of Democratic Theory: Scientific Naturalism and the Problem of Value'' *Reeves, Thomas C., ''Freedom and the Foundation: The Fund for the Republic in the Era of McCarthyism'' (New York: Knopf, 1969). *Shils, Edward. "Robert Maynard Hutchins," ''American Scholar'', 1990, Vol. 59, Issue 2, pp. 211–216. *
''An Interview with Dr. Robert M. Hutchins''
at
Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

Dr Hutchins interview
with
Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade car ...
on ''The Mike Wallace Interview'' July 20, 1958
University of Chicago biography


External links

*

* ttps://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.HUTCHINSRM Guide to the Robert Maynard Hutchins Papers 1884–2000at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center Guide to the University of Chicago Office of the President, Hutchins Administration Records 1892–1951
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
* FBI records on Robert Maynard Hutchins {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchins, Robert 1899 births 1977 deaths American educational theorists Academics from Brooklyn University of Chicago faculty Presidents of the University of Chicago Oberlin College alumni Yale University alumni Deans of Yale Law School Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany American philosophers of education 20th-century American academics