Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
This same friend last night suggested to me a thought that I intend
to work out in speaking to you to-day. We were talking over the
University of California, and from that we spoke of the general
educational system of our country. Facts tend to become commonplace,
and we tend to lose sight of their importance when once they are
ingrained into the life of the Nation. Although we talk a good deal
about what the widespread education of this country means, I question
if many of us deeply consider its meaning. From the lowest grade
of the public school to the highest form of university training,
education in this country is at the disposal of every man, every
woman, who chooses to work for and obtain it. The State has done much,
very much; witness this university. Private benefaction has done
very much; witness also this university. And each one of us who has
obtained an education has obtained something for which he or she has
not personally paid. No matter what the school, what the university,
every American who has a school training, a university training, has
obtained something given to him outright by the State, or given to him
by those dead or those living who were able to make provision for that
training because of the protection of the State, because of existence
within its borders. Each one of us then who has an education, school
or college, has obtained something from the community at large for
which he or she has not paid, and no self-respecting man or woman
is content to rest permanently under such an obligation. Where the
State has bestowed education the man who accepts it must be content
to accept it merely as a charity unless he returns it to the State in
full, in the shape of good citizenship. I do not ask of you, men and
women here to-day, good citizenship as a favor to the State. I demand
it of you as a right, and hold you recreant to your duty if you fail
to give it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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