America's Greatest Enemy: Ignorance

Charles D. Hayes has been writing about the rewards of self-education for more than two decades. Self-study changed his life and his politics. This short essay expresses the essence of what he has discovered about the value of continuous learning. He shows how deficits in our current education system discourage people from thinking for themselves, leading to the social inequities and political polarization we’re witnessing today. Democracy is not a sport, says Hayes. We need thoughtful, educated, active citizens to preserve it. (3843 words)