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Pennsylvania Gazette, November 21, 1754. Newspaper. Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall. 6 pp., 9 1/4 x 14 1/2 in. This issue of Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette reports addresses by two students at the Academy of Philadelphia, including seventeen-year-old Francis Hopkinson, who went on to write music and poetry, sign the Declaration of Independence, and design the American flag. Founded in 1751, the Academy provided classical education and instruction in practical skills. Most of the trustees had received a classical education and favored a similar curriculum for the academy, but trustee Benjamin Franklin favored an education that stressed practical skills. He advocated teaching all classes in English and emphasizing mathematics and science. ExcerptsFrancis Hopkinson, "On Education in General," November 12, 1754"The right Education of Youth has ever been esteemed, by wise Men, one of the chief Cares of the best constituted States; and it is a Truth, confirmed both by Reason and Experience, that Societies have more or less flourished, in all that exalts or embellishes human Nature, in Proportion as they have taken more or less Care in this important Matter." (p1/c1)"Upon the whole then, it appears, that whether the Design be to preserve a good Constitution civil and religious, and transmit its Spirit, uncorrupted, down thro' Ages; or whether the Design be to mend a bad One, and secure it against all Dangers from without, it is only to be done effectually by the slow, but sure Means of a proper Education of Youth." (p1/c2)Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) was a Renaissance man. He was a representative of New Jersey in the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was also a lawyer, a musician, and a poet. He was the first American-born composer to publish a song, he contributed to the design of the Great Seal of the United States, and he designed the first official American flag-with thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen white six-pointed stars on a field of blue. Born in Philadelphia, Hopkinson attended the Academy there and became a member of the first class at the College of Philadelphia, graduating in 1757. He received a master's degree in 1760. Samuel Magaw, "An Enquiry into the Several Branches of Education, in order to ascertain the just Value or Moment of each," November 12, 1754"it may not be amiss to enquire more particularly, which of the Branches of Science we are more immediately concerned to be acquainted with; for all cannot be equally important; and as, in this Life, we have many Things to do, and but little Time to do them in, it highly concerns us not to misspend that little, either in useless, or idly curious Researches." (p1/c2)Latin and Greek: "To be unacquainted with these universal Languages must therefore be a great Loss to every Person, who has Leisure and Abilities to pursue a liberal Education, especially as they are to be acquired at a Time of Life, when the mind is not ripe enough for higher Studies." (p1/c2)"we can never say enough concerning the Usefulness of mathematics, and those Sciences which lead us to investigate the physical Properties of Bodies." (p1/c3)"By these Sciences we also extend the Sphere of Sight, search Nature out in her most distant as well as secret Retreats. We not only pry into the minutest Things, and her darkest Mysteries here on Earth, but we scale the etherial Towers, and freely range the celestial Fields, measure the Magnitudes of the Worlds above, determine their Distances, prescribe Laws to the most irregular of them, and confine even the blazing Comet itself to its stated Course." (p1/c3)Samuel Magaw (1735-1812) was a member of the College of Philadelphia's first class and graduated in 1757. He received a scholarship for instructing German immigrants in the area in exchange for lodging and board. He was ordained in England as an Episcopal priest and served as rector of Philadelphia's St. Paul. (See website for full description).
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