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The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”“Encouraging Useful Knowledge” in the Early Republic: The Roles of State Governments and Voluntary Organizations

The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”: “Encouraging Useful Knowledge” in the... [Perhaps no phrase better captures the enlightenment educational project than that of “encouraging useful knowledge.” With its implied reference to the agency of the learner, its apparent favoring of active trades and professions, its unspoken contrast with the purely theological, and its veiled critique of mere markers of social status, the phrase seems to suggest a world in which new learning and innovative practices were breaking out everywhere, including government itself, which in many ways they were. Some version of the phrase appeared in virtually every educational essay and manifesto of the late colonial and early republican eras, including the statement of purpose for the American Philosophical Society, which defined its mission as “promoting useful knowledge.” And no person or place better represented the notion of encouraging useful knowledge than Benjamin Franklin, the city of Philadelphia, and the state of Pennsylvania, where Franklin used the language to promote the founding not only of the APS but also of the institution that became the University of Pennsylvania, both in the 1740s.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest”“Encouraging Useful Knowledge” in the Early Republic: The Roles of State Governments and Voluntary Organizations

Part of the Historical Studies in Education Book Series
Editors: Justice, Benjamin
Beadie, Nancy
The Founding Fathers, Education, and “The Great Contest” — Nov 14, 2015
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References (12)

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-44453-3
Pages
85 –102
DOI
10.1057/9781137271020_5
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Perhaps no phrase better captures the enlightenment educational project than that of “encouraging useful knowledge.” With its implied reference to the agency of the learner, its apparent favoring of active trades and professions, its unspoken contrast with the purely theological, and its veiled critique of mere markers of social status, the phrase seems to suggest a world in which new learning and innovative practices were breaking out everywhere, including government itself, which in many ways they were. Some version of the phrase appeared in virtually every educational essay and manifesto of the late colonial and early republican eras, including the statement of purpose for the American Philosophical Society, which defined its mission as “promoting useful knowledge.” And no person or place better represented the notion of encouraging useful knowledge than Benjamin Franklin, the city of Philadelphia, and the state of Pennsylvania, where Franklin used the language to promote the founding not only of the APS but also of the institution that became the University of Pennsylvania, both in the 1740s.]

Published: Nov 14, 2015

Keywords: Voluntary Organization; Voluntary Association; Educational Organization; American Philosophical Society; Corporate Charter

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