American Way of Life
"SCLEROSIS OF THE MIND"
One of America's outstanding educators, Robert Maynard Hutchins, now president of the Fund for the Republic and head of its Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, made the following observation in his convocation address in March at the University of Chicago of which he was formerly chancellor:
"As the rich countries are getting richer, the poor are sinking deeper into destitution, and this, the most explosive situation in the world, will revenge itself upon us in far less than 75 years. In the last 20 years the United States has initiated no significant step toward peace. We at length appear to be emerging from our fatuous preoccupation with the cold war, but only to fight one of the most miserable and degrading hot wars of modern times....
"Members of the graduating class: the danger that will threaten you in the next 25 years is sclerosis, of the imagination, the vision, the character, the mind and the heart. This is a disease especially virulent in opulent countries...."