It's more of a class attitude than Earl Brinson's remarks suggest. Berkeley is against FREE schools, the sorts that educate the lesser and poorer sort of people who then begin to question the wisdom, justice, and entitlement of their (supposed) social betters. I don't think we should 'condemn Sir William for eternity' either, but we should acknowledge his powerful anti-egalitarian and elitist view as fundamental to his Virginia society--and as American as apple pie. Belief in hierarchy and in keeping the poor ignorant and uninformed about the acts of government has a long history in the U.S.