According to Jefferson’s Plan  Who should be educated?  What knowledge should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)?  What values should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)?  Who should control the curriculum (and for what purposes)?

Thomas Jefferson  Jefferson’s vocations were in law & agriculture  He gained fame as a scientist, philosopher and statesman  He was best known for his revolutionary ideas  Born in West Virginia to a prosperous landowner & farmer

Fundamental Tenets of Classical Liberal Ideology Faith in Reason Natural Law Republican Virtue Progress Nationalism Freedom (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Faith in Reason A better guide than tradition, custom, and dogmatic faith Mind as “blank slate” Humankind capable of great feats Galileo, Copernicus, Newton (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Natural Law “Universe is a machine” Understanding yields control Science replaces theology as guide to action (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Republican Virtue Perfectibility of the individual Duties to God and to nature The work ethic Men’s virtues/ Women’s virtues (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Progress Continual individual and societal progress toward perfection Changing the world to what ought to be Revolution as an option Education as the vehicle (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Nationalism Allegiance to a nation, not a state A new national identity Uneasy balance between national government and local self- determination (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Freedom “Negative freedom”  Intellectual Free from external coercion of church and state  Political Representative government  Civic Freedom to “live as one pleases” Bill of Rights  Economic “Laissez-faire” economy The Wealth of Nations (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Jefferson’s Plan for Popular Education Self-Education Elementary Schools Grammar Schools University (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

First Tier—Elementary Schools Foundation of entire education structure Decentralized districts Three years of free education Screening for future leaders Preparing citizens for effective functioning

Second Tier—Grammar Schools Boarding schools Languages, advanced curriculum Developing local leadership Preparation for university (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

Third Tier—University Education Common education from grammar schools allowed for advanced instruction Specialization in a “science” Preparation for leadership—law, government, the professions Education for meritocracy

Fourth Tier—Self-Education Lifelong learning as the culmination of educational aims Jefferson’s support of public libraries “Knowledge is power; knowledge is safety; knowledge is happiness”

Concluding Remarks Political economy and ideology influenced early education processes, inside and outside of schools Jefferson’s thinking reveals the tensions in classical liberalism Admirable ideals versus the “dominant ideology”

Aristocracy: rule by the best, --or a system of government, sometimes based on nobility: but often a privileged class holding hereditary titles, or an upper class known as aristocrats. Meritocracy: is a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by wealth or social position; merit means roughly intelligence plus effort. One implication is that whatever level in society a citizen reaches is held to be what she deserves. Meritocracy is also sometimes used to describe a government or other body that stresses formal education and competence over other features, such as ancestry.

Jefferson  The man who farmed his land, it was thought, depended on no one for the livelihood of his family  The family ruled the transmission of culture, values and religion.  The family was patriarchal. The husband / father was expected to rule the family and provide wisdom, and love as well as economic substance.

Jefferson’s “Virginia Plan” consisted of several key tenets Schools of the Hundreds - Each county is divided into small, 5-6 square mile districts, (called “hundreds), each of which containing one basic school - The schools were for “all” children and taught basic literacy and education in: reading, writing, and arithmetic - “the principal foundations of future order will be laid here” (95)

Grammar schools -Every year, “the boy of best genius” is sent to a grammar school -At grammar school, students would learn “Greek, Latin, geography and he higher branches of numerical arithmetic” (94) - every one or two years, the best students are selected to continue grammar school for six years

William and Mary College -At the end of six years of grammar school, one half of students are selected to study science of their choice at William and Mary College -These students are to be the leaders of the new society *Notice Jefferson’s rationale for not permitting religion in the schools, for it is a largely private matter National libraries – Jefferson also envisioned the creation of national libraries, for the benefit of all citizens, not simply students.

According to Jefferson’s Plan  Who should be educated?  What knowledge should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)?  What values should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)?  Who should control the curriculum (and for what purposes)?