"Only Socrates knew, after a lifetime of unceasing labor, that he was ignorant. Now every high-school student knows that. How did it become so easy?"

In this quote, Allan Bloom is highlighting the shift in society's perception of understanding and wisdom. He contrasts the ancient thinker Socrates, who spent his entire life in pursuit of knowledge and eventually recognized his own lack of knowledge, with the contemporary high school trainee who seems to have a huge quantity of knowledge without putting in the very same level of effort. Bloom recommends that this modification has occurred due to the devaluation of education and the ease of access to information in today's society. He questions how knowledge has actually become so readily available and quickly achievable, leading to an absence of gratitude for the real worth of wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge.