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Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963

"The Souls of Black Folk"

So must men and nations build,
not otherwise, not upside down.
Teach workers to work,--a wise saying; wise when applied
to German boys and American girls; wiser when said of
Negro boys, for they have less knowledge of working and
none to teach them. Teach thinkers to think,--a needed knowl-
edge in a day of loose and careless logic; and they whose lot
is gravest must have the carefulest training to think aright. If
these things are so, how foolish to ask what is the best
education for one or seven or sixty million souls! shall we
teach them trades, or train them in liberal arts? Neither and
both: teach the workers to work and the thinkers to think;
make carpenters of carpenters, and philosophers of philoso-
phers, and fops of fools. Nor can we pause here. We are
training not isolated men but a living group of men,--nay, a
group within a group. And the final product of our training
must be neither a psychologist nor a brickmason, but a man.
And to make men, we must have ideals, broad, pure, and
inspiring ends of living,--not sordid money-getting, not ap-
ples of gold. The worker must work for the glory of his
handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for
truth, not for fame.


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