A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at

“A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching.” So spoke A. Bartlett Giamatti, a man who understood that the destiny of a people is shaped not by the wealth of its land nor the strength of its armies, but by the wisdom of its teachers and the freedom of its learners. To understand his words is to touch the very pulse of civilization—to feel the rhythm of thought and the breath of enlightenment that have guided humanity from the caves of ignorance to the halls of knowledge.

In the ancient world, education was not merely the acquisition of skill; it was the forging of the soul. The Greeks called it paideia—the cultivation of the mind, body, and spirit into harmony with the good, the true, and the beautiful. To be liberally educated was to be free, not in body alone, but in thought—to see beyond the chains of custom, beyond the walls of tribe and tongue. Thus, a liberal education is not a luxury for the few; it is the lifeblood of civil society, that delicate balance where freedom meets virtue, and individual reason nourishes the common good.

Yet, as Giamatti reminds us, at the heart of this education lies something even deeper—the act of teaching. For knowledge does not spring forth from scrolls or screens; it is awakened in one soul by the touch of another. The teacher is the bridge between ignorance and understanding, between potential and purpose. Like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, the teacher brings light to mortals—not to rule them, but to ignite within them the power to think, to question, to create. Without such acts of teaching, society grows silent, and civilization decays into mere machinery.

Consider the tale of Socrates, who taught not through wealth or title, but through dialogue and wonder. In the marketplaces of Athens, he questioned the proud, the powerful, and the ordinary alike, seeking truth as one seeks water in the desert. His student, Plato, carried forth his spirit, and Plato’s student, Aristotle, instructed kings and dreamers alike. This lineage of teaching—of minds nurturing minds—became the foundation of Western thought. Even when Socrates was condemned to drink the hemlock, his teachings did not die, for they had already taken root in the hearts of his students. Thus, we see that teaching is immortality, the eternal transmission of the human spirit.

And so, when Giamatti speaks of a civil society, he does not mean merely one governed by laws, but one governed by understanding—a society that values truth above convenience, empathy above indifference, and the common good above private gain. Such a society can only exist where its citizens are taught to think freely and act justly. Where there is ignorance, tyranny soon follows; where there is learning, liberty endures. Teaching, therefore, is not just an occupation—it is an act of guardianship over the soul of civilization.

Let us not forget the teachers who shaped the course of nations—the monks of the Middle Ages who kept the light of knowledge alive amid the darkness, or Frederick Douglass, who taught himself to read in secret and declared that “once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Every age of progress, every breath of liberty, every act of justice begins with the teacher’s unseen labor. It is they who till the fields of the mind, planting seeds whose fruit they may never see, but which nourish generations yet unborn.

The lesson, then, is clear: to preserve civilization, we must honor and sustain the act of teaching. Let us be teachers in our own right—parents to our children, mentors to our peers, seekers among seekers. Let us learn deeply, not for gain, but for growth; and let us teach generously, not for praise, but for posterity. For when one mind awakens another, the world becomes new again. The true measure of a society is not in what it builds, but in what it teaches, and in whom it inspires to carry that teaching forward.

Thus, remember this, O reader of future days: a liberal education is not a relic of the past, but the living heartbeat of freedom itself. Guard it well. Teach and be taught. For as long as the flame of teaching burns, the dawn of civilization shall never fade.