“Remind students that one of the central missions of the university, which justifies its existence, is to get at the truth. That requires honest debate, patience, intellectual honesty, investigation, and a lot of hard work. But it also is not for the faint of heart. And that is a lesson that is almost never transmitted today. That offense, bruising thoughts, and unpleasant facts simply go with the territory. They are an intrinsic feature of an open society, and they never can be entirely avoided.”

"getting at the truth" ? A noble aspiration indeed. Today, the occupying statist theocracy's advanced seminaries tout the dogmatic line.

I know one of the world's foremost engineers in the field of earth quake construction. He says what is taught now in his field is very different than when he started. That has required honest debate, patience, intellectual honesty, investigation, and a lot of hard work. Very, very different from all fields now being intermingled with the absolute of the statist theocracy's entrenched dogmas.

Schools and teachers should be facilitators in learning, not 'preachers.'  I have questions for elders with relevant experience.  I am willing to compensate them for their time and consultation as it has inherent value to me.  I will remember their lessons because their teaching was the answer to my questions.  Should they try to teach me something else, give me answers to questions I am not asking, I am less likely to accept or remember it because it does not answer the question.  Getting at the truth is the ONLY purpose of enrolling into a program taught by others — if that is not the purpose, then what is it?  Church and state all too often attempt to form the aspirant into their image, rather than to facilitate self-discovery and the uncovering of truth (and untruth).  Let the Truth stand on its own — should I reject it, there will be consequences, perhaps I will learn from them, maybe they will destroy me.  Or the truth will set me free from the false notion of who I thought I was.  'Teachers' that have helped me move through these realizations are the ones I will never forget and always hold in high-esteem.

Fine sounding words are not true, the truth is not find sounding, this is just nothing but childish hogwash. The whole picture presented rationally and in its entirety brings out the monumental efforts and achievements of the adult, and its beautiful. Your "fine" sounding words are simply not true because they are being stated by a individual, you Amy Wax, that has absolutely no experience with such notions. You avoid openness, facts, honest debate, investigation etc, etc, with all your absolutely childishness "not to be" stubbornness. You need to grow the hell up. If you are to be found wrong, the world has ran its course and we ignite the nuclear arsenal is just your sorry BS cowardly attitude. The adult says to be and nothing else. Socialism is the challenge of social abilities to create to be.