Continuing from part 3.

Okay time to sum up my notes on Franklin’s thoughts on education, and move on in my research.   The following are a few excerpts from Franklin’s proposal for the education of youth that discuss some of the lessons that can be taught from the study of history. Please take the time to read the entire document.

History will show the wonderful Effects of ORATORY, in governing, turning and leading great Bodies of Mankind, Armies, Cities, Nations. When the Minds of Youth are struck with Admiration at this, then is the Time to give them the Principles of that Art, which they will study with Taste and Application. Then they may be made acquainted with the best Models among the Antients, their Beauties being particularly pointed out to them. Modern Political Oratory being chie?y performed by the Pen and Press, its Advantages over the Antient in some Respects are to be shown; as that its Effects are more extensive, more lasting, &c.

Franklin noted that leaders, need to be great speakers, but concedes in his day that they must also learn to use the pen as writing has become more important. Today that would include many more forms of media such as, TV, youtube, facebook and twitter. Understanding how to effectively communicate is a much broader area now then just reading and writing.

On Historical Occasions, Questions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice, will naturally arise, and may be put to Youth, which they may debate in Conversation and in Writing When they ardently desire Victory, for the Sake of the Praise attending it, they will begin to feel the Want, and be sensible of the Use of Logic, or the Art of Reasoning to discover Truth, and of Arguing to defend it, and convince Adversaries. This would be the Time to acquaint them with the Principles of that Art. Grotius, Puffendorff, and some other Writers of the same Kind, may be used on these Occasions to decide their Disputes.  Publick Disputes warm the Imagination, whet the Industry, and strengthen the natural Abilities.

I believe the ability to analyze, and debate complex ideas is sorely lacking today. Though we say we are teaching higher order thinking skills, they are often applied to scientific data, very rarely the difficult issues of society.  We are focused on content and that which is measurable.  We no longer look at logic and reasoning.  We do not take apart and examine the great issues of the day or of history. We do not examine multiple sides of an issue.  On the rare occasion that I have been a student in classes that did, we were always guided to the ‘politically correct’ understanding of the day. Looking back at Franklin’s comments about Oratory and communication, it should be noted that our political leaders are masters of the sound bite and slogan, and the vagaries of ‘non-committal’ speak. Are the electorate knowledgeable enough to see past these to look at the details of policy and make a decision based on open discussion, reasoning, and logic? In my opinion and experience I see this lacking in our current test driven classrooms. Where it does occur is in the classes of more advance students who take history and philosophy in the later years of high school.

With the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated, that Benignity of Mind, which shows itself in searching for and seizing every Opportunity to serve and to oblige; and is the Foundation of what is called GOOD BREEDING; highly useful to the Possessor, and most agreeable to all. The Idea of what is true Merit, should also be often presented to Youth, explain’d and impress’d on their Minds, as consisting in an Inclination join’d with an Ability to serve Mankind, one’s Country, Friends and Family; which Ability is (with the Blessing of God) to be acquir’d or greatly encreas’d by true Learning; and should indeed be the great Aim and End of all Learning.

Franklin begins to conclude his proposal with the assertion that the goal of true learning ‘is to serve mankind, one’s country, friends and family.’  We should put are knowledge and ability to good in the world. Today service learning is gaining momentum but I believe Franklin meant more then that.  He was speaking about grounding learning in morals and ethics. The learning was not just a cerebral activity but one that was connected to conscience, and being.

Franklin laid out a detailed plan for the education of youth that would be used to create the University of Pennsylvania.  Franklin thought education was most essential to the success of an individual and society, yet Franklin’s formal education ended at the age of 10. He attend one school for a year and left.  Then another and left.  His subsequent apprenticeships also ended abruptly.  Daniel Wolff writes Franklin had “a taste of the approved educational route, and he wouldn’t be taking it. If he was going to be considered an educated man, he’d have to earn his own credentials: invent himself. And that, he’d go on to argue, only made sense: a new kind of education for New World (pp 10-11).”  Franklin educates himself reading borrowed books then practices writing in the style of the books he has read.  His brother, a printer, published his works, much anonymously. The most famous are the Silence Dogood letters.  Franklin tests out his thinking in a public forum and receives feedback. Ben reads and discusses. He writes, he creates content and shares it, looking for reaction and feedback. We also do this, only we blog, twitter, plurk, use voicethread or make a video.  We create content, we test our understanding, we share our ideas, we are looking for feedback.

I’m not sure how to sum this up but Franklin believed that  knowledge was supposed to stay with “the clergy and the judges not in the head of common drudges.” That is part of a poem by Franklin’s brother James. “The point of a carefully controlled society was that the people needed to be ignorant” (Wolff, pp 22-23), so that power was with the elite few.  Benjamin Franklin was a rebel, “under that arrangement, an inquiring, unrestrained education amounted to an act of treason.” (pp 22) But this rebel desired to create a formal education system that did rely on the study of Latin, Greek and rote learning put that which focused on useful knowledge, discussed and debate.  A place where students could follow their interest and is ‘pleasing to the mind’.  Franklin wanted to “perpetuate a kind of controlled, ongoing rebellion.” (pg 25)

References

Franklin, B. (1749). Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania. Philadelphia.

Wolff, D. (2009). How Lincoln Learned To Read: Twelve Great Americans and the Educations That Made Them. New York, Bloomsbury.