Francisco Ferrer; his life, work and martyrdom, with message written ...

His Life and Work. 43
"Whatever the question under discussion, we will try
not to forget the practical point of view.
"For instance, we will give the greatest amount of
space to the differences that ought to be made between
teaching in cities and teaching in the country.
"But, we must hasten to say, all this would not be of
much account if we did not at the same time investigate
—this is extremely important—the material and moral
circumstances of the educator which influence his fitness
for giving a good education.
"For it is not enough to say to a teacher: 'Go, do this.'
You must ask him : 'Can you do it'
"To every man informed in regard to school matters
it is clearly apparent that a public school teacher can do
almost nothing unless he has been freed from a triple
restraint, the restraint of the administration, the restraint
of politics, and the restraint of conventional morality.
"In that way we associate ourselves with our comrades,
who, grouped in their syndicats, struggle for their own
emancipation,
"The bulletin of the Federation des Syndicats dTnstituteurs
proclaims this motto : 'Be a man, since you are
to make men.' That will be our motto also. L'Ecole
Renovee will write in favor of two things : the right of
a worker to perfect himself technically and the struggle
of union labor.
"As a matter of fact, the two things, in our opinion,
are inseparable. Our ideal would be, from now on to
form a group of those educators who would be the most
conscientious teachers and the least docile functionaries.
Our ideal would be to form a group of those men who,
in accord with the producers at last become masters of
production, would one day organize good schools free
from all trammels.
"We may add that L'Ecole Renovee will not occupy
itself solely with education in France, but will carefully
keep abreast of everything that has been and will be
accomplished for the improvement of schools in other
countries.
"We will address not professionals alone, but also the
public at large, that the people may occupy themselves
with questions in which hitherto they have not been sufficiently
interested."