In London, men & women of 43 United Nations gathered to discuss how education could serve peace. They did not even hope to find all the answers, but they had some modest ambitions. They heard their presiding officer, Britain's fiery little Minister of Education "Red Ellen" Wilkinson, suggest that if England and France could just agree on how to describe the Battle of Waterloo in their history books, it would help. They heard Clement Attlee's worthy bromides: "In your hands rests here and now the opportunity of establishing a common front against ignorance."
Amidst the fine fervor and high purposes of the...