This DeVane lecture at Yale continues a public course on the philosophy of college education built around Plato's Republic. The instructor works through Book Three, tracing Plato's argument that character is shaped by imitation and habit before turning to his controversial proposals to censor the epic poets and regulate musical education. The lecture's center is the noble lie, the myth Plato's guardians are told to secure social cohesion, and the instructor uses it to open a discussion of meritocracy and whether a just society needs comforting fictions about who belongs where. The talk closes on early specialization in education, connecting Plato's concerns to present day debates about tracking students into narrow paths too soon. Delivered as part of Yale's 325th anniversary exploration of its founding purposes, the lecture treats The Republic as a live text for thinking about what college is actually for.