Education Quote by Bainbridge Colby

Bainbridge Colby, Woodrow Wilsons last Secretary of State and a founder of the Progressive Party, spoke at a moment when Americanism was brandished to steady a country shaken by World War I, mass immigration, and the first Red Scare. The line sets up a classroom metaphor for the nation: the teacher is the custodian of civic knowledge and the lesson is the body of constitutional principles, historical memory, and public virtues that hold a diverse society together. Loyalty and respect here are not merely personal courtesies. They signal deference to the institutions and traditions that transmit the American creed.

That framing reflects Colbys larger politics. In 1920 he issued the Colby Note refusing recognition of Soviet Russia, arguing that a regime bent on overthrowing other governments could not be a trustworthy partner. He saw radical propaganda as an assault on the national curriculum of liberty under law. By urging loyalty to the teacher, he was pressing citizens, especially newcomers and the young, to trust the authority of schools, courts, and elected leaders tasked with teaching the meaning of citizenship. Respect for the lesson meant embracing the narrative of ordered freedom, constitutional limits, and civic obligation rather than revolutionary rupture.

The appeal, though, contains a tension that is distinctly American. A nation that prizes free inquiry and dissent cannot equate patriotism with blind obedience. The best teachers invite questions, and the best lessons deepen rather than stifle judgment. Read generously, Colbys demand calls for faith in a shared civic framework strong enough to contain disagreement. Read critically, it warns how Americanism can slide into conformity when loyalty to instructors eclipses loyalty to principles.

The enduring challenge is to keep the classroom open: to honor the institutions that teach the republics ideals while allowing argument to refine, correct, and extend those ideals to more of the people who claim them.