"Your education is occurring in a given context,at a certain time, in history, in a certain country, at a certain time in it's history-- and in fact, at a very crucial time, in its history.

One: a baby's not born with any idea of society, no sense whatever of other people-- It's mother exists principally, and in fact, entirely, for him or her; and its father exists, somewhat later, and its father exists-- somewhat later, entirely for him or her, its only much, much later when the baby realizes that the parents he supposed existed for him or her; is just another human being, who was not invented for him. That is on the most primary levels one of the meanings of an education.

On another level, it is the only way that one is enabled to enlarge the world. That sounds like a very grandiose phrase, but what it means is, that when you fer example begin to read, you discover more about the world than you knew before.

You discover more about the world in two ways, this is why it's important, there being in fact two worlds, one world is you -- that, this, this. envelope.

I am a world, I am not the only world, that's my problem. But I am a world! I am under the obligation to discover whatever it is that goes on in that world. And in order to do that, I have got to consent to become a social animal; in order to discover and enlarge what goes on in this world, which is all of you and many millions of people, both living, dead, past, and to come.

And finally, (this is where it begins to be difficult)-- the measure of one's dignity depends on one's estimate of oneself. It really does not depend, as so many in this country now seem to believe, on someone else's estimate.

It depends first of all, on what you take yourself to be; what your real standards are; what you think is right; what you think is wrong; what you think life is all about, what you think life is for.

Now you are all, very young. And I say that by the way, with great humility. You are all still unformed; or let me put it in an other way, you are not finally formed.

And you are still, to put it brutally, (I want to put it brutally because I want to make my point absolutely clear) -- you are still at the mercy of your elders; you are still at the mercy of the standards of your elders.

Let us go back again to the whole concept of education, and bear in mind that education does not, and cannot occur in a vacuum. It occurs in a social context. It occurs in a social context, and it has social ends.
For example-- to take a very brutal example, the children of the Third Reich, were educated by the Third Reich, in order to to fulfill the purposes of the Third Reich.

Hitler did this on a very old principle, a principle referred to -- owed by priests and in the bible-- and which every parent somewhere knows: if you give me the child for five years; I'll have him the rest of his life.

So that that is so, one has then got to be aware, that one of the purposes of an education-- your responsibility before your educators, is to question the purpose of this education.

This is where it becomes difficult: the measure of one's dignity, is one's estimate of oneself. It really does not depend; as so many people in this country now seem to believe, on someone else's estimate.

It depends first of all, on what you take yourself to be; what your real standards are; what you think is right; what you think is wrong; what you think life is all about.