Not School

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. -- Mark Twain

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Thomas Jefferson on education: Part II


    I found a great short essay about Jefferson and public schooling, similar to my last post but considerably better. It begins:

    One advantage of interpreting the words of those no longer with us is that it is frequently possible to imply they said what we would like them to say. In that regard, no Founding Father is cited more favorably by the public school establishment than Thomas Jefferson.

    Probably the most often cited is his statement, "if a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." That is not a statement about schools, of course. One can be educated without being schooled. One also can be schooled without being educated.

    In 1814, Jefferson made a clear distinction between the two as he said, "I hope our successors will turn their attention to the advantages of education. I mean education on the broad scale, and not that of the petty academies."


    I've been writing about Jefferson because I sometimes see it implied that homeschooling is unpatriotic and antisocial. This isn't something I hear personally, but it shows up in mainstream media articles on homeschooling, as in the Time article. "Well, the Founding Fathers were in favor of sending kids to school, so you must be wrong," is sometimes written in between the lines. Homeschooling research generally indicates that homeschooled kids enjoy superior academic and social growth, on the average. Therefore, barred from more concrete criticisms, journalists sometimes fall back on giving a sniff of disapproval and dragging the Founding Fathers into it, as if they too would have tsk, tsked about homeschools. In fact, Jefferson wrote in 1780:

    If it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.

    If I went around claiming that Jefferson fought for state-funded voluntary homeschool co-ops in every five-mile square, where every kid would get a total of 36 weeks to learn, with some tutoring, whatever they felt like pursuing within the language arts or mathematics, I would not be far off.

    Furthermore, schooling is just one means of educating the public. A diverse and free press is also a very important mechanism (and one which we no longer have in this country). Jefferson wrote:

    No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. (In correspondence to to John Tyler, 1804.)

    The most effectual path to the truth is the free press, Jefferson wrote. Not schools. He also wrote that "The only security of all is in a free press," and "Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press." School might insure that all men could read, but it wasn't schooling that would protect American democracy. This is really quite obvious, since schools can't tell you about the latest referendum or political candidates. And nor do today's schools, with their "One Authority" approach to teaching, help graduates to decide what they believe when they encounter conflicting claims.

    Our public school system did not originate with Thomas Jefferson any more than atomic bombs originated with gunpowder. Some weak chain of historical events could be drawn back through the centuries, but it wouldn't mean much. The fact is, this really wasn't what Jefferson had in mind. And even if he would have approved of our K-12 system, all the schooling in the world won't help democracy one whit, in the absence of decent newspapers.

    3 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    So well said and thought out. I agree whole-heartedly! Unfortunately, just 200 years or so of public schooling has managed to give humanity amnesia about childhood and learning. I think the average person has never bothered to question why our educational system is in existence, let alone why it is the way it is. But I also think that is changing as more folks see how problematic most schools are.I am very much interested in reading more about the history of education and would love to hear about any books you could reccomend. As a matter of interest, check out this curriculum, A Thomas Jefferson Education,
    http://www.curriculumconnection.net/thomasjeffeducation.htm
    kim from relaxedhomeskool.com

    June 08, 2006 10:39 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    oops, here is that link
    http://www.curriculumconnection.net/
    thomasjeffeducation.htm

    June 08, 2006 10:39 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Enjoyed this post. I've been reading and blogging about A Thomas Jefferson Education quite a bit lately.

    Maureen

    May 13, 2007 8:55 AM  

    Post a Comment

    << Home