The greatest works of art and literature and philosophy in a culture are not those that list didactically the principles for living, or even those that allow us clearly and rationally to deduce such principles.
Rather, the greatest and most important works of a culture are the ones that describe the world, and our place in it, in a way that consistently surprises and awes us, in a way that highlights what is valuable in it and what is worth preserving from it.
And embodying these great works is nothing like learning the rules for living.
It is, instead, learning a way to see what is meaningful and worthwhile in a life.
And that, I believe, is what a general education could be for at its best.