Education is Wasted on the Young

Consider the brightest boy or girl at the best imaginable college--much better than any which now exists--with the most competent faculty and with a perfect course of study. Imagine this brightest student in the best of all possible colleges, spending four years industriously, faithfully, and efficiently applying his or her mind to study. I say to you that, at the end of four years, this student, awarded a degree with the highest honors, is not an educated man or woman. And cannot be, for the simple reason that the obstacle to becoming educated in school is an inherent and insurmountable one, namely, youth.

-- Mortimer J. Adler, "Adult Education"