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The Education of Benjamin Franklin History has given Benjamin Franklin a place of enduring fame. He was a writer, an inventor, a scientist, and a statesman. His life history has enjoyed popular success for more than 200 years. Franklins education at school stopped when he was ten years old. But he never stopped learning. For him, books held the key to living happily and successfully. They were precious gifts. In his early youth, he had a friend who worked for a bookseller. Sometimes his friend would lend him books, which he was careful to return quickly. Often he sat up in his room reading most of the night in order to return a book before his friends employer noticed its absence. But Franklin was not a lonely scholar. For him, learning was a social experience. In his Autobiography, he tells about organizing a club called the Junto, which met every Friday night to improve its members minds: The rules I made required every member, in turn, to produce one or more questions on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy. The question would then be discussed by the whole group. Also, once in three months, each member was required to read an article he had written on any subject he pleased. Our discussions were directed by a president and conducted as an honest search for truth. We were to avoid unpleasant arguments or a desire for victory. Any member who did not obey these rules had to pay a fine. | 
