Talk:.NzU.MjY1NzM

the Convention must explain, as it is this measure on which definitive resolutions will later depend in order to establish a plan for a sound education. The measure I have to propose is not based on any of those abstract ideas by which the majority of plans that have been presented to us find themselves encompassed. It is simple: it has reason as a support, evidence as a principle, & experience as a guarantor of success. The measure consists in putting in place a true common education; the only one suitable for all periods, & all ages; the only one applicable to the interests of society & of each person who makes it up. Furthermore, it has this advantage: that it can be put it into place as soon as it is adopted. It does not entail any sort of advance, stake, or expenditure that would put a strain on the Nation; for the institutions are already in existence; the teachers exist. These institutions & teachers, are scattered all over the Republic. They are everywhere throughout the territory; pupils can present themselves there with confidence, certain that they will receive the education they rightfully deserve. This measure equally obliges all citizens to learn, at a set age, an art, a trade or a profession capable of procuring them the means of subsistence. We have decreed equality: we wish it not to be an empty name, that it remain illusory & without reality; for in a democratic & popular Republic, the law of equality is the only law that can bring about common happiness. Let us remember those times of despotism & barbarism, when the purest & most useful portion of the people, those who lived in poverty & mediocrity, were known only under the most odious & ignominious qualifications