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Liberty and Literacy in Jeffersonian America
Chapter TWO Liberty and Literacy in Jeffersonian America
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Thomas Jefferson’s vision for education was predicated on classical liberal ideology: Faith in Reason Natural Law Republican Virtue Progress Nationalism Freedom
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Faith in Reason A better guide than tradition, custom, or religious dogma The mind is a “blank slate” (tabula rasa) Humankind is capable of great feats Galileo Copernicus Newton
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Faith in Reason Is reason always a better guide than custom, tradition, religious dogma? Why?
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Natural Law Universe as a “machine” God as “clockmaker” Understanding yields control and mastery Science replaces theology as guide to action
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Natural Law Has the emphasis on “control” and “mastery” of nature had negative consequences?
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Republican Virtue The “perfectibility” of man Duties to God and to nature = Moral Goodness & Piety The “protestant” work ethic Men’s virtues = Success in the Public Sphere Women’s Virtues = Child rearing and Caring for Home
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Republican Virtue Is “Man” perfectible? Why or why not? Should men and women reflect different virtues?
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Progress Continual individual/societal progress toward perfection Conforming the world to what it ought to be When governments overstep, revolution is an option Social meliorism: “improving society through education”
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Nationalism Emphasis on national identity Preservation of culture An allegiance to a nation not a state The American revolution contributed to nationalism
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Classical Liberal Ideology
Freedom Negative Freedom: freedom from interference Intellectual: Freedom from coercion from church / state Political: Representative government Civic: To live as one pleases AND Bill of Rights Economic: “Laissez-faire” economy / self-regulation of markets
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Jefferson’s “Wall of Separation”
He writes: “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.”
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Jefferson’s “Wall of Separation”
Has the separation of church and state been a largely negative or positive? Why? What are some ways that teachers might find this separation challenging?
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Jefferson on “newspapers”
He writes: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I would not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter...But I should mean that every man shall receive these papers and be capable of reading them.”
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Jefferson’s (failed) Plans for Education
Proposed to divide Virginia into wards of 5 to 6 sq miles (sound familiar?) Each ward would serve a dual purpose: Local unit of government (decentralization) Provide an “elementary” school Education would consist of 4 tiers: elementary, grammar, university, and lifelong self-education
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 1: Elementary School (ages ) 3 years free of cost to “all free children, male and female” $$$ after 3 years An “overseer” would manage roughly 10 schools Could hire/fire teachers Supervise curriculum Examine students Teach the 3 Rs, Greek, Roman, English & American History
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 1: Elementary School (ages ) Would serve to “screen” for the best and brightest (boys) The overseer would, according to Jefferson, ‘[select] the boy of best genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to give them further education, and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools’ at the public’s expense. After the first year at the grammar school, the scholarship boys would be examined and the bottom third dismissed. At the end of the second year, the best scholarship student in each grammar school would be chosen to continue and the remainder dismissed. As Jefferson put it in his Notes on the State of Virginia, ‘By this means twenty of the best geniuses will be raked annually from the rubbish (!!!), and instructed, at public expense, so far as the grammar schools go.’
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 2: Grammar School (ages ) Were to be boarding schools 20 established across the state Take 1 scholarship student from each elementary school
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 2: Grammar School (ages ) Curriculum would focus on: Languages (Greek, Latin, & English) Advance arithmetic Geometry Navigation Geography Local leader would be drawn from grammar schools (even teachers!)
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 3: University Education (ages 16+) Rejected the Harvard model (prescribed course of study) Supported free choice of electives Designed with the “natural aristocracy” in mind Graduates would become: Jurists Political leaders Scientists
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 3: University Education (ages 16+) Jefferson added following requirement for all graduates: “But no diploma shall be given to anyone who has not passed an examination in the Latin language as shall have proved him able to read the highest classics in that language with ease, thorough understanding and just quality; and if he be also proficient in Greek, let that, too, be stated in his diploma” Have we watered university down? Should it still be this tough to complete (and get into?)
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Jefferson’s Plan for Education
Tier 4: Self-education & Lifelong Learning Schooling would instill a lifelong love of learning Jefferson made provisions for public libraries “Knowledge is power; Knowledge is safety; Knowledge is happiness”
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