Feb 04 2010
The Most Essential Part of Education
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Dr. Benjamin Rush was in attendance when the United States was born. He was the youngest man to sign the Declaration of Independence and he attended the troops at Valley Forge. He graduated from Princeton in 1760, and studied medicine in London and Paris.
He was a prominent physician and medical school professor in Philadelphia. He was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. He helped Abigail Adams set up one of the first schools for women in America. He wanted to set up free public schools for children of both sexes, and what do you suppose he wanted taught in those schools?
I’ll let him tell you, in his own words:
“Let the children who are sent to these schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.” Letters of Benjamin Rush, “To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools,” March 28,1787
“By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects….It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published….All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon it (the Bible) must perish, and how consoling the thought, it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself. ‘The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.’ (Matthew 1:18)” Letters of Benjamin Rush, “To John Adams,” January 23, 1807
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