Jacques Barzun, one of the great thinkers of our age, died at the age of 104 in San Antonio, after a long and distinguished career as a thinker, teacher, cultural critic, and author.
The obituary in the New York Times describes his amazing career.
We are not likely to see his like again. Our age moves too swiftly and demands too much interactivity to allow figures like Barzun to grow, ripen and flourish.
He had the unusual ability to transmit his vast knowledge of history to the public.
I did not know him well but I had a small encounter with him, at a distance.
At the time, it mattered a great deal to me.
Barzun was one of the founders of the Council for Basic Education, an organization created in the 1950s to support liberal education in the schools and to ward off ill-considered fads.
For many years, he remained a member of CBE’s board as an advisory figure.
In the 1980s, I was invited to join the board of CBE; I Â remained on the board until I joined the first Bush administration in 1991.
In its early years, CBE Â was a wonderful gadfly, peppered with brilliant commentary and critiques.
In the 1980s, when I joined CBE, its leader Graham Down struggled valiantly to find the funding to keep it alive.
In the 1990s, there was an effort to revive it by making it a “player” inside the Beltway, winning government contracts and running programs.
This was a far cry from its origins as a gadfly that stung the establishment but it kept the organization going until 2004.
Barzun remained on the masthead but he was no longer active.
At one point, the editor of the CBE newsletter conducted a joint interview of us, which I can’t find on google, but which exists somewhere in my papers.
After I served in the first Bush administration, I was invited to return to the CBE board, but then mysteriously the offer was withdrawn.
I emailed Jacques and told him what had happened.
Although he was one of the organization’s founders and towering figures, he resigned his honorary membership to protest the insult to me.
I was deeply moved by his act.
Just a small memory and not even deserving of a footnote in the life of this extraordinary man.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Integrity is uncommon; thanks for the reminiscence
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This is a beautiful remembrance. Thank you.
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Wow- that was a life well lived. I attended a Constitution Workshop for DC Public School teachers during the summer of 1990 that was organized by A. Graham Down. Graham said he was a History teacher and found it ironic that he taught American History as he was a Brit.
Echoing Carrie, integrity is uncommon, especially nowadays.
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His act of protest showed his true character. I wish there were dozens more like him.
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Some times it seems like the greats go West when we need them the most. I learned so much from his writings.
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Reading him and listening to him makes me really proud to be a teacher. He gave the profession so much dignity. American Teacher is my jam. We need more people like him talking about the profession. Here is a video with him, “What is a School”
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/166892-1
C-span has a couple of interviews with him.
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Dear Diane,
I am sorry for you personal lose and for the sharing about Mr. Barzun. Ihope you keep on trying before there are no real public schools left. Sincerely,
Jean Sachs-Nygard
________________________________
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There is an academic chair in his honor at Columbia — a fine gesture that makes forever clear his tremendous contributions. I had no idea he had actually lived so long, but suddenly I miss him terribly.
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I think the saddest thing is that his name will soon be forgotten. So wonderful that he stood up for you. I didn’t see the obituary which makes me think he has already drifted from the public memory.
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Thank you for providing another satisfying example of Barzun’s principled conduct. Pleasing rather than surprising, but time suddenly telescoped when reading “I emailed Jacques ….” Much easier to imagine JB wielding his thick green Waterman fountain pen while drafting his reply than to picture him clicking Reply and tapping away. Of course he could type out opera reviews long ago while still wearing his gloves, but the wonderful span of his life stretches into the digital age with a reminiscence like yours, Dr. Ravitch. I’m delighted that you posted it.
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I loved Barzun. In my lifetime, he was one of the few stalwart advocates of a world view informed widely and deeply by the humanities – across the disciplines. To have discovered him was sheer delight. I have not read all of his works, but have mused over many of them.
Diane, two summers ago I read his collection of essays on education entitled, Begin Here. I read it alongside your wonderful book on the death of the American education system. What a wonderful pairing of works that turned out to be!
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