Essay on a Course of Liberal Education for Civil and Active Life

[1] Dedicated to the governing board of Warrington Academy at which Priestley was a tutor, the treatise argues that the education of young people should anticipate their practical needs, something Priestley accused the current universities, Dissenting and Establishment alike, of failing to do.

In Priestley's eyes, the contemporary focus on a traditional classical education prevented students from acquiring useful skills.

This principle of utility guided his unconventional curricular choices for Warrington's aspiring middle-class businessmen.

He believed that these topics would prepare his students for the commercial middle-class life that most of them would live; he did not believe that the poor people should receive this same education, arguing "it could be of no service to their country, and often a real detriment to themselves.

"[2] The board was convinced and in 1766 Warrington Academy replaced its classical curriculum with Priestley's liberal arts model.