Ben Franklin

No character in American history who had not served as president of the US had greater effect on life and on politics than Ben Franklin. He was an inventor, an author, and scientist whose writings had led to the founding of the University of Pennsylvania. When he was a young man, he was always busy trying to make things while at the same time as described by Zacharia, "philosophizing and imagining in the abstract."

He wrote a pamphlet describing the ideal system of university education that can be found here: Proposals relating to the education of youth in Pensilvania. It is worth considering if we were to ever reimagine what education should become if we were to scrap the stiff, self-conscious, unnatural and overly expensive system we have now.

I am still in L.A. and enjoying a brief family reunion. We plan to go to the Getty Museum today.

Make, fix, create, and extend to others the joy of learning likewise.