"In our dream we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand. The present educational conventions fade from our minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or of science. We are not to raise up among them authors, orators, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians. Nor will we cherish even the humbler ambition to raise up from among them lawyers, doctors, preachers, statesmen, of whom we now have ample supply."
#IRLHistoricalFigureFrederickGates
Context "In summary, the key points are that country schools are in a terrible state. Gates recommends education that is initially tailored to the immediate problems of the rural poor - specifically health, food, clothing, shelter. He note the current system with it's blind emphasis on rote learning of the thee Rs is not working. He notes that better educated people is better for the economy, and suggests this is justification to raise taxes to pay for public education."
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/context-people-yield-themselves-with-perfect-docility-to-our-molding-hand-gates.1258/
Supplementary "Gates worked with Rockefeller to develop a system to ensure that his philanthropic donations were put to the best possible use. An avid reader of books of medicine, economics, history, and sociology, Gates believed that the wealthy could do a lot more than have a library wing named after them or mitigate poverty and other social ills. Philanthropy's real potential, he argued, lay in its ability to identify and change the roots of those ills -- not its symptoms. By focusing on the idea of 'scientific giving,' he and the other new philanthropists at the turn of the century were able to act in a more organized fashion and tackle areas neglected by the government, such as education, science, public health, and agriculture."
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rockefellers-gates/