“Of course I need not tell you that we reached the point of education that _you_ have attained at present by the same process and in the same order that you did, and I need, therefore, not go back of that point, for you know that as well and perhaps better than I do. It is modern history with you and more or less ancient with me. You want to know by what path, from your present position, you can reach a higher plane. “We have seen that the sovereignty of the state gradually weakened, and that the sovereignty of the individual correspondingly increased. Your public school system depends for its financial support on the power of the state. As soon as the state loses its power of compulsory taxation, the public school can not exist on its present principles. “But mankind will always maintain existing institutions until they begin to see some disadvantages, or until they can supplant them by what they consider to be better ones. This is as true of education as of everything else. Mankind slowly learns that not all instruction furnishes useful information. The direct object of education, as we have seen, is to discover truth, so that we may live in accord with the facts of the universe; for every violation of a natural function is a violation of a natural law, and every violation of a natural law is attended with suffering. Hence, in order to enjoy the greatest happiness, the ultimate aim and end of all sentient beings must be to live in tune with facts; we must understand the true relations of things so that we may be able to look a great distance into the future, so as to avoid or remove all stumbling blocks from our path of future progress. “We may easily illustrate the fact that not all instruction furnishes useful information. The instruction which was inculcated in the minds of the people during the dark ages that a supernatural power may be and often was purchased from the supposed evil fiend, was instruction which led to the torture and murder of millions of innocent human beings. The instruction, during former ages, that war and slavery are justifiable, has done an immense evil, and is doing so still, but in a somewhat more lenient form. Your modern instruction that profit, interest, rent and taxes are right, and conducive to human well-being, is causing nearly all your present evils and discord.