Essay on Foundations of Education

This selection gives interesting insight into the world of Franklin, relating both to his everyday habits, and his reactions to the Enlightenment. There was one very interesting, but small segment, towards the end of the selection. It read, ‘It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection; I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into .. . . But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined.’ This particular section of the source was very revealing of Franklin’s character. Throughout the entire paper, Franklin had discussed different aspects of his upbringing, and current lifestyle, however this quote reveals more about the man behind the paper than anything else. Yet, he spent most of the text comparing his life to religious teachings, and the paths that the Enlightenment opened.

The allusion to readings beyond the Bible is a great indicator of the importance of education, to Bradstreet and Franklin. Books and education play an enormous part in Franklin’s life. In fact, the founding of the first circulating library solidifies the importance. The extent of his education is demonstrated with the allusion to other writers and philosophers such as Anthony Collins, Cotton Mathers, and John Bunyan ; in doing so, he is boasting his education and encouraging others to emulate him. Franklin’s’ “... first collection was of John Bunyan’s Works…” and reveals that he is reading beyond religious scripture(Franklin 312). As part of the Enlightenment movement, it was easier for Benjamin Franklin to read and mention other

It is easy to see Benjamin Franklin was no doubt an archetypal American. No one since him has ever had the same amount of success as him. He was a private businessman who made enough money to retire early and to spend the rest of his life in politics. Around this time period only the rich were able to retire early. He was industrious. Franklin continually put forth the idea of the industrious American. He had support from the middle-class who did not care if he was rich but he was a man who was self-made and worked hard. This American attitude was formed early and most of it by him. Franklin was also not judgmental came to decisions and conclusions as a businessman and politician. However, his attitude was non-judgmental with respect to a

Thomas Jefferson remains one of the first advocates for public education, which was later termed the Common School Movement. He recognized the inequality in education, for the wealthy stood the only ones capable of affording an education, thus the poor stayed poor and the rich stayed rich. Jefferson aspired to change the apparent injustices in the education system. He felt all children possessed the right to and education regardless of prosperity, heritage, and circumstances. Even though Jefferson remained not able to create the change he so desperately sought to make, he never stopped trying and since education stayed revolutionized, for his persistence in equality. James Conant, former president of Harvard University stated, “In short, as I view the American scene of the 1960’s, I am ready to declare without hesitation that Jefferson’s proposals have become incorporated in the pattern of our educational structure” (Mercer, 1993).

The visionary outlined his plans for the institution in a reading titled, Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. As a means of resolving public health issues and providing care for the physically or mentally ill., Franklin constructed the idea for the first map for a public hospital in Pennsylvania. The final bit of philanthropic advice given from Franklin outlines a list of the 13 virtues necessary to live a virtuous life. Franklin mastered all of the virtues on his list and felt that others could benefit from his system “not [by] attempting the whole at once, but [by fixing] one of them at a time” (Franklin, 96). As a philanthropist, Franklin continuously sought after ways to improve his community. With the help of his Junto, Franklin succeeded in leading new undertakings of social advancement. “He expressed his hope to produce something for the common Benefit of Mankind” (Franklin, 6).

Early in Benjamin Franklins life, he faced a big challenge that led him to make choices to shape up his influencing character. It shows us that he had to work hard from an early age. This is a big challenge for him because he had to work from an early age along with becoming better academically. Growing up in a big family with so many siblings, he had to take care of himself. His father Josiah worked in a soap factory, along with making candles. Benjamin worked with his father until he was twelve years old, until he started to despise working with his father which made his father look for alternative jobs. Knowing Benjamin and his interest in education and books, his father suggested he worked for his older bother James, who was a printer.

Horace Mann was one of the most influential reformers in the history of American education. He was responsible for the Common School Movement, which was to ensure that every child receive free basic education funded by local taxes. Growing up in poverty where there was lack of access to education, the first secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education strongly believed that tuition- free education would be the “great equalizer,” and the key to fight against poverty and crime. As a result, Massachusetts’ residents were the

Benjamin began college in September 1850, and he was known as a “smart, stern, quiet, and religious student.” He followed his father’s stern teaching and joined the local Presbyterian Church. He did not have much of a social life outside of class and did not spend much time with his fellow classmates. Even though, Benjamin quickly discovered that he had a gift for public speaking. He impressed his teachers and peers alike with his words and his fluent thinking. He joined the Union Literary society, a club at his local college, and became its president. Members of the club discussed various subjects that Benjamin enjoyed, such as politics, literature, world history, American history, and speech. Benjamin even gave speeches on these subjects to his classmates and his teachers.

That is indicative of how anyone can change the world or have a significant influence on a large group of people. Individuals who rise to prominence and become important to a country can come from affluence or poverty, because the material possessions they have do not matter. The strength of their heart and the content of their character are much more valuable assets to consider. Both Adams and Franklin possessed these things, which was what allowed them to move into the jobs they held and provided them with the ability to offer so much value to the United States and the people who lived there in the earliest days of a fledgling country. Addressed here are the beliefs and values of both Franklin and

Franklin was shifting gears during this time of his life. He was forty-three years old, a wealthy printer, but he retried, tackling non-commercial pursuits like science, politics, and education. This is when he observed that lack of higher education available in Pennsylvania. He longed to open a school for boys that would teach them the practical skills needed in their future endeavors. He stated, “Students preparing for the ministry or medicine would study classical languages, while those becoming merchants would focus upon ‘living languages.’ In addition, Franklin hoped that all students would learn practical skills, including planting and

Franklin, himself climbed the ranks society “having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which [he] was born and bred to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world” (Franklin 27). He had been raised by a humble middle class family, not being promised much wealth or land, forcing him to make a name for himself. Franklin, a man of the enlightenment,

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was an autobiography telling his childhood, values, and successes. Franklin was an influential writer, scientist, inventor, and diplomat. In this autobiography, Franklin gives the readers an insight into his beliefs and core values. Throughout the text, Franklin emphasizes his high appreciation towards education, capitalism, and labor. His positive attitudes towards these three subjects can be connected to his child and adulthood. From that, it is possible to analyze the reason he has those attitudes towards the different aspects. In the autobiography, Franklin speaks highly of education.

His autobiography is the first example of the completion of the American Dream. Franklin talks about his life history as an example to exemplify the most significant American character and principles, like strength of mind, self-reliance, determination, hard work, penny-pinching, and dependence on a code of moral principles are the elements of achievement. He describes how he became an excellent citizen through lack of money and steady assiduousness. Franklin established the potential of life in the New World through his own rise of the social classes. His family was poor when he was a child, but despite that, he became a very rich and influential man. In addition, he declares that he pulled off his achievements through a diligent work ethic. He showed that even ordinary people in Boston possibly would, through industry, turn out to be great people of significance in America.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston. His father, Josiah Franklin, who was a tallow chandler, had seventeen children; Benjamin was the fifteenth child and the tenth son. His mother, Abiah Folger, was his father’s second wife. After he went to grammar school from age eight to ten, Benjamin started working at his father’s business. He didn’t like the work very much, however, and so he began to work for a cutler. When he was just thirteen, he became an apprentice to his brother James, who had just returned from England with a new printing press. Benjamin learned the printing trade, but in his spare time he tried to improve his education. In 1721 his brother

and in reality it was a demonstration of the failure to make a dependable political