|
|
Article: A perilous nation of ignoramuses.(The Providence Journal)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 19, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
In his very first political announcement, published in 1832 when he was a candidate for state representative, Abraham Lincoln described education as the most important subject facing his society.
``That every man may receive, at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance,'' he wrote.
Lincoln was speaking of rudimentary education for the rude frontier folk living in the backwater of Sangamo County, Ill. I quote him not because this view of the vital importance of reading history was ...