Today the well‐being of the average citizen is linked with social and economic events widespread over the world. The future of human life will depend more and more on the education, the intelligence, and the knowledge of the common man. Knowledge increases continually in range and complexity, and the days in which a man might master almost the whole of human learning lie far behind us. The citizen should have a rational though of course simple conception of the world as it is today, and of the past history of man and the world; how to achieve this is one of the great problems of education.