A reader asks:
“Why does Boston have so many universities compared to other cities?”
Boston benefits from almost 400 years of continual investment in education.
For example, Harvard University was founded in 1636, just six years after Boston itself.
That wasn’t an accident: From its founding, up to the American Revolution (when the British occupied Boston to shut down its commerce and impoverish the rebels), Boston was the favored trans-Atlantic destination, with a good harbor and the shortest travel times to and from Europe. Boston and its surroundings grew fast, creating a need for educated citizens to manage the burgeoning economy and political life.
Boston’s early emphasis on education resulted in a citizenry that could think for itself, and that in turn, was the foundation of much of the revolutionary thinking that led the then-Colonists to seek self-government.
You can see that sentiment summed up on the Boston Public Library — the first major city public library in America — which has this inscription on its north facade: “THE COMMONWEALTH REQUIRES THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE AS THE SAFEGUARD OF ORDER AND LIBERTY.”
Higher education has so long been a part of Boston that American humorist Mark Twain supposedly once compared Boston to New York and Philadelphia this way:
“In New York, they ask ‘How much is he worth?’ In Philadelphia, they ask ‘Who were his parents?’ But in Boston, they ask “how much does he know?’”
I don’t know what the future holds; I think the rise of charter schools threatens the goal of a truly educated general populace. (Look at today’s anti-science, anti-fact climate.) But for now, I think the above answers the historical aspect of your question.
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