And we will stand there. If the public will not
maintain institutions of learning, then, I say, let institutions of
learning go down. If I belong to a state which cannot be moved from its
extremities to its centre, and from its centre to its extremities, for
the maintenance of a system of public instruction, then, in that
respect, I disown that state; and if there be one state in this Union
whose people cannot be aroused to maintain a system of public
instruction, then they are false to the great leading idea of American
principles, and of civil, political, and religious liberty.
It is easy to enumerate the advantages of a system of public education,
and the evils--I say evils--of endowed academies, whether free or
charging payment for tuition. Endowed academies are not, in all
respects, under all circumstances, and everywhere, to be condemned. In
discussing this subject, it may be well for me to state the view that I
have of the proper position of endowed academies. They have a place in
the educational wants of this age. This is especially true of academies
of the highest rank, which furnish an elevated and extended course of
instruction. To such I make no objection, but I would honor and
encourage them. Yet I regard private schools, which do the work usually
done in public schools, as temporary, their necessity as ephemeral, and
I think that under a proper public sentiment they will soon pass away.
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