That erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is
to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence,
and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened
and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of
public education is not to spread enlightenment at all, it is simply to reduce
as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a
standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in
the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other
such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else. H L. Mencken
