A government system of education in Prussia is not
inconsistent with the theory of Prussian society, for there
all wisdom is supposed to be lodged in the government.  But
the thing is wholly inadmissible here . . .  because,
according to our theory, the people are supposed to be wiser
than the government.  Here, the people do not look to the
government for light, for instruction, but the government
looks to the people.  The people give the law to the
government.  To entrust, then, the government with the power
of determining the education which our children shall
receive is entrusting our servant with the power to be our
master.  This fundamental difference between the two
countries, we apprehend, has been overlooked by the board of
education and its supporters.

-- Orestes Brownson

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