{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-11:our-schools",
  "slug": "our-schools",
  "title": "Our Schools",
  "subtitle": "On the public school system.",
  "excerpt": "On the American public school — the institution on which, Ingersoll believed, the whole future of the Republic rested.",
  "year": 1893,
  "volume": 11,
  "category": "Essay",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/our-schools/",
  "wordCount": 574,
  "body": "I BELIEVE that education is the only lever capable of raising mankind.\nIf we wish to make the future of the Republic glorious we must educate\nthe children of the present. The greatest blessing conferred by our\nGovernment is the free school. In importance it rises above everything\nelse that the Government does. In its influence it is far greater.\n\nThe schoolhouse is infinitely more important than the church, and if\nall the money wasted in the building of churches could be devoted to\neducation we should become a civilized people. Of course, to the extent\nthat churches disseminate thought they are good, and to the extent that\nthey provoke discussion they are of value, but the real object should be\nto become acquainted with nature—with the conditions of happiness—to\nthe end that man may take advantage of the forces of nature. I believe\nin the schools for manual training, and that every child should be\ntaught not only to think, but to do, and that the hand should be\neducated with the brain. The money expended on schools is the best\ninvestment made by the Government.\n\nThe schoolhouses in New York are not sufficient. Many of them are small,\ndark, unventilated, and unhealthy. They should be the finest public\nbuildings in the city. It would be far better for the Episcopalians to\nbuild a university than a cathedral. Attached to all these schoolhouses\nthere should be grounds for the children—places for air and sunlight.\nThey should be given the best. They are the hope of the Republic and, in\nmy judgment, of the world.\n\nWe need far more schoolhouses than we have, and while money is being\nwasted in a thousand directions, thousands of children are left to be\neducated in the gutter. It is far cheaper to build schoolhouses than\nprisons, and it is much better to have scholars than convicts.\n\nThe Kindergarten system should be adopted, especially for the young;\nattending school is then a pleasure—the children do not run away from\nschool, but to school. We should educate the children not simply in\nmind, but educate their eyes and hands, and they should be taught\nsomething that will be of use, that will help them to make a living,\nthat will give them independence, confidence—that is to say, character.\n\nThe cost of the schools is very little, and the cost of land—giving the\nchildren, as I said before, air and light—would amount to nothing.\n\nThere is another thing: Teachers are poorly paid. Only the best should\nbe employeed, and they should be well paid. Men and women of the highest\ncharacter should have charge of the children, because there is a vast\ndeal of education in association, and it is of the utmost importance\nthat the children should associate with real gentlemen—that is to say,\nwith real men; with real ladies—that is to say, with real women.\n\nEvery schoolhouse should be inviting, clean, well ventilated,\nattractive. The surroundings should be delightful. Children forced to\nschool, learn but little. The schoolhouse should not be a prison or the\nteachers turnkeys.\n\nI believe that the common school is the bread of life, and all should\nbe commanded to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. It would have\nbeen far better to have expelled those who refused to eat.\n\nThe greatest danger to the Republic is ignorance. Intelligence is the\nfoundation of free government.—The World, New York, September 7, 1800.\n"
}