Let us labor for that larger comprehension of truth, and that more thorough repudiation of error, which shall make the history of mankind a series of ascending developments.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of striving for a deeper understanding of truth while rejecting falsehoods.
Horace Mann advocates for a commitment to seeking a broader and deeper comprehension of truth in human knowledge, coupled with a firm rejection of errors. He envisions that through such efforts, humanity can progress and evolve continually, creating a history marked by improvement and advancement.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of education, one might quote this to inspire students to seek knowledge.
Under the Providence of God, our means of education are the grand machinery by which the 'raw material' of human nature can be worked up into inventors and discoverers, into skilled artisans and scientific farmers, into scholars and jurists, into the founders of benevolent institutions, and the great expounders of ethical and theological science.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
There may be frugality which is not economy. A community, that withholds the means of education from its children, withholds the bread of life and starves their souls.
Great knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been well instructed, but still greater knowledge is requisite to instruct those who have been neglected.
Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal.
Genius may conceive but patient labor must consummate.
You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it.
The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.
I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.
In the '70s and '80s there was an attempt in K-12 to teach science through art or art through science. The challenge today is how do you build the ethos of art and design into the academy of science.
Schools must inquire deeper into their own practices, explore new ways to motivate their learners, make use of learning styles, introduce multiple intelligences, integrate learning, and teach thinking, and in the process discover the passion and moral purpose that makes teaching exciting and effective.
The purpose of education...is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions.
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