The author replies to critics of a recent popular historical outline and defends the need for a common, synthetic account of human history as part of general education. He contrasts the specialist historian’s pursuit of precise, technical knowledge with the teacher’s duty to present broad frameworks that help citizens situate themselves in a larger human story. Noting a tendency toward narrow, period-focused instruction, he argues for an intermediate corps of educational scholars or master teachers to select and present balanced narratives, critiques university resistance to this role, and acknowledges his own outline’s imperfections while urging wider pedagogical reform.