"Crucial Issues in Education" (1969), by Henry Ehlers (preface)
   LB 7 .E45 1969
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  ... And we should always remember that the human mind is like a para-
  chute:  useless until open.
    Why should we read BOTH (or SEVERAL) sides of a disputed issue?  The
  reason is clear.  We are so comfortable with ourselves and with the pre-
  judices we now hold that we are loath to read anything that might upset
  these cherished beliefs.  As scholars, however, we must abide by the
  Socratic maxim, "The unexamined life is not worth human living."  This
  may also be translated, "The unexamined belief is not worth human hol-
  ding."  A careful study of opposing viewpoints will generally clarify
  an issue.  It will help replace emotional outbursts by rational discus-
  sion, and it should help remove unreasoned prejudices, misleading cli-
  che's, and half-truths.  The net result is a restructuring of our ori-
  ginal beliefs, making them more comprehensive and precise, as well as
  an increase in our personal esteem and self-confidence, since our beliefs
  (and the personality they reflect) are now maintained with understanding
  and integrity.
    An open society is progressive and dynamic precisely because different
  individuals and organizations are permitted to defend their opposing
  viewpoints with passionate intensity before the court of public opin-
  nion.  Hopefully, these controversial issues will be resolved in a man-
  ner reasonably satisfactory to all, but the process of arriving at a
  viable position is one of tension, not rest.  For, as Ralph Waldo
  Emerson wrote in his essay on "Intellect,"

      God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.
    Take what you please--you can never have both.  Between them, as
    a pendulum, man oscillates.  He in whom the love of repose pre-
    dominates will accept the first creed, the first philosophy, the
    first political party he meets--most likely his father's.  He gets
    rest, commodity and reputation:  but he shuts the door of truth.
    He in whom the love of truth predominates will keep himself aloof
    from all moorings, and afloat.  He will abstain from dogmatism,
    and recognize all the opposite negations between which, as walls,
    his being is swung.  He submits to the inconveniences of suspense
    and imperfect opinion, but he is a candidate for truth, as the
    other is not, and respects the highest law of his being.