An Open Letter to my Boys

I wrote this letter to my boys today:

I enjoyed our far-ranging conversation this morning.

I was reading something today that mentioned Cardinal Newman.

You probably don't care about that, although the statement attributed to him right at the end was interesting:

As Cardinal Newman warned, knowledge really is an end in itself.

You might not be aware that we have a Newman Center just down the street from my office with a statue of Cardinal Newman at the entrance (which is also a portal in Ingress). I didn't know who he was, so I looked at his wikipedia page and was intrigued by his educational philosophy. I particularly liked the quote by those criticizing him:

The discipline introduced is unsuitable, certainly to this country. The young men are allowed to go out at all hours, to smoke, etc., and there has not been any fixed time for study. All this makes it clear that Father Newman does not give enough attention to details.

I noticed that they referenced his book The Idea of a University), which is available via Project Gutenberg.

I thought I might undertake to read his book. And perhaps you would like to as well.