EDUCATION’S LADDER

       The first step is to train abilities
       Inculcating essential human skills,
       The many kinds of useful literacies
       Our earliest curriculum instills.

       The second step is knowing what’s to know
       Surveying the wide range of study’s ken,
       Deciding in this field what rows you’ll hoe
       Of Who, of How, of What, of Where, of When.

       The third step is at last to realize
       The value of this whole noble pursuit,
       Which aims above all else at growing wise,
       Since Wisdom is the highest human fruit:

            To know what is of value and to make
            It real is what we do for wisdom’s sake.

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