The twelve articles
Nothing in these articles is new. What would be new is a school that kept all twelve at once, and for every student.
From IX. The Examination
We hold, therefore:
- I
That education is the means by which a civilization survives its own generations, and its neglect the beginning of decline.
- II
That a school has three duties: to transmit knowledge, to advance it through discovery, and to carry it into use. These duties belong together at every stage of education, and every student, in any school great or small, shall take part in all three, and may lead in them.
- III
That the end of education is human flourishing: a good life, of which worthy work is a part and not the whole. Wisdom and character therefore belong to the curriculum, since knowledge without conscience is merely power.
- IV
That excellence and access are allies. Students may arrive by different roads and travel at different speeds, but all shall be held to one high standard.
- V
That every learner is owed a tutor, and that the machine may help to make this debt payable. It shall never do for a student what the student must do in order to learn, and it shall remain under human judgment, with its effect upon learning measured and published.
- VI
That breadth is no luxury. The sciences and the humanities are one inheritance and shall be taught as one, together with the command of the tools of the age.
- VII
That no education is complete without the fellowship of other minds, and that to teach another is among the surest ways to learn. Distance shall not deny a student that fellowship, nor shall a school mistake connection for community.
- VIII
That inquiry shall be free. No doctrine is exempt from question, and those who dissent in good faith shall be heard and protected.
- IX
That students shall share in the government of their school and so learn responsibility by its exercise, while the faculty answers for standards, assessment, and degrees.
- X
That teachers are to be elevated and not replaced, relieved of repetition so that they may guide, judge, and set the standard.
- XI
That advancement follows mastery, and that mastery is proved by work, by examination, and by defense before those qualified to judge it.
- XII
That this education shall be open to talent wherever it is born, at a cost no family need fear, and shall remain a companion to the whole of a life.
The Examination
What follows is therefore put as questions, since each institution alone knows its answers.
- “Our reputation speaks for us.”
- “Our graduates prosper.”
- “We prepare our students for careers.”
- “Our faculty are distinguished.”
- “Few pay the full price.”
- “Our doors are open to all.”
- “We teach thousands online.”
- “Our students are satisfied.”
- “We have adopted the machine.”
- “We have forbidden the machine.”
- “Our students already do research.”
- “Our standards are high.”
- “Inquiry is free here.”