From Sir Norman Angell, 1942:
"If the world has nearly destroyed
itself, it is not from lack of knowledge in the sense that we lack the
knowledge to cure cancer or release atomic energy, but is due to the fact
that the mass of men [and women] have not applied to public policy knowledge which
they already possess, which is indeed of almost universal possession, deducible
from the facts of everyday life.
"If this is true - and it seems inescapable - then no education which consists mainly in the dissemination of "knowledge"
can save us. If men [and women] can disregard in their policies the facts they already
know, they can just as easily disregard new facts which they do not at
present know.
"What is needed is the development in men [and women] of that particular
type of skill which will enable them to make social use of knowledge already
in their possession; enable them to apply simple, sometimes self-evident,
truths to the guidance of their common life."
