In Emerson document of "The American Scholar" was a radical document of its time. It dealt a blow against an educational system that favoured the method of rote learning, declamation and a prescribed curriculum for all undergraduates.
Reading of the text is relevant to us even today as the text delivers a message that the contemporary man still needs to receive yet the speech is so full of discussion topics that an intrinsic part of it may not catch the reader's attention. In "The American Scholar" there is a startling direction to the scholar not to worship or make false idols of books. This shows the author's belief in the necessity for self-reliance and creative reading an writing. When Emerson dictates his audience to be "Man Thinking," rather than a "mere thinker," he is cautioning against the false idolatory of books or the Bible worship. This caused a stir in the contemporary American society.