The annual tradition of having a prominent member of the U. of C. faculty address the incoming class continues this evening (6:30 CST). The first of these addresses was given in 1962, to the class just in front of mine. In 1963 we were not aware that a tradition had been born.
The speaker this year is Geoffrey Stone, prominent law professor, former Provost and author of a recent report dealing with the issue of free speech on campus. It will be the second "Aims of Education" address given by Stone, a great honor. The live video will apparently be available on the U. of C. website. It will be worth watching for any high school student contemplating attending the University. That student will see a big question - perhaps the biggest one of all at any university - grappled with by a scholar who has has thought about these things a long time, especially as they have been shaped and defined at the University of Chicago.
Although it will no doubt concern itself with the perennial question implied by the title (from an essay by Alfred North Whitehead) I expect it to deal, perhaps indirectly, with the subject matter raised by the Dean's letter to incoming first years. It will probably attempt to consider these matters from the broadest possible perspective: What is the end of education? That is a question Aristotle might have asked himself. We have to know the end before we can know the beginning.
Don't disappoint us, Professor Stone.
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