Thursday, March 24, 2005
Thomas Jefferson on Education
Steven Lustig sent this to me today to share with everyone.
Jefferson on Education
Thomas Jefferson, noted author of the Declaration of independence, contributor to the Constitution, crafter of the Bill of Rights, Vice President, President, Statesman, architect, farmer and inventor was also the founding father of our public school education system.
Jefferson penciled out the public school system for the State of Virginia that eventually became the model for the country. He believed that the future health of our then fledgling Democracy was “depended upon the Education, Enlightenment and Participation of its people”.
Jefferson loved and honored the intellectual virtues and the intellectual life, but for him, as for them, the chief ends of education were never held to be exclusively intellectual. Indeed, in certain respects, intellectual development was, for Jefferson a chief means to still higher ends, those of moral and civic excellence.
In 1817 he published a collection of his writings that became know as, The General Diffusion of Knowledge, originally derived from a series of Bills in the Virginia Legislature, these writings are contained within a book entitled, Crusade Against Ignorance, by Columbia University, New York, 1961.
Below are a few choice quotes from Jefferson on Education.
A crusade against ignorance: establish and improve the law for educating the people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us from such evils, and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than a thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, nobles and priests who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.
The General Diffusion of Knowledge, 1817.
“I am now entirely absorbed in endeavors to effect the establishment of a general system of education in my native state, on the triple basis, 1. of elementary schools which shall give to the children of every citizen gratis, competent instruction in reading, writing, common arithmetic and general geography. 2. Collegiate institutions for ancient & modern languages, for higher instruction in arithmetic, geography and history, placing for these purposes a college within a day’s ride of every inhabitant of the State, and adding a provision for the full education at the public expense of select subjects from among the children of the poor. 3. A(n) University in which all the branches of science deemed useful at this day, shall be taught in their highest degree”.
In a letter to George Ticknor, 1817
The advancement of popular intelligence constitutes “the keystone of the arch of our government”,
In a letter to John Adams, 1813
“I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness”.
In a letter to George Wythe, 1786
Part of the General Diffusion of Knowledge
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree."
Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia
Part of the General Diffusion of Knowledge
"Though [the people] may acquiesce, they cannot approve what they do not understand."
Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on apportionment Bill, 1792
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey
"No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity."
Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Board of Visitors Minutes
"Light and liberty go together."
Thomas Jefferson to Tench Coxe, 1795.
"Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty."
Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
"And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787.
"A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest."
Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell
"I feel... an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may, at length, reach even the extremes of society: beggars and kings."
Thomas Jefferson: Reply to American Philosophical Society, 1808.
Thomas Jefferson, noted author of the Declaration of independence, contributor to the Constitution, crafter of the Bill of Rights, Vice President, President, Statesman, architect, farmer and inventor was also the founding father of our public school education system.
Jefferson penciled out the public school system for the State of Virginia that eventually became the model for the country. He believed that the future health of our then fledgling Democracy was “depended upon the Education, Enlightenment and Participation of its people”.
Jefferson loved and honored the intellectual virtues and the intellectual life, but for him, as for them, the chief ends of education were never held to be exclusively intellectual. Indeed, in certain respects, intellectual development was, for Jefferson a chief means to still higher ends, those of moral and civic excellence.
In 1817 he published a collection of his writings that became know as, The General Diffusion of Knowledge, originally derived from a series of Bills in the Virginia Legislature, these writings are contained within a book entitled, Crusade Against Ignorance, by Columbia University, New York, 1961.
Below are a few choice quotes from Jefferson on Education.
A crusade against ignorance: establish and improve the law for educating the people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us from such evils, and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than a thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, nobles and priests who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.
The General Diffusion of Knowledge, 1817.
“I am now entirely absorbed in endeavors to effect the establishment of a general system of education in my native state, on the triple basis, 1. of elementary schools which shall give to the children of every citizen gratis, competent instruction in reading, writing, common arithmetic and general geography. 2. Collegiate institutions for ancient & modern languages, for higher instruction in arithmetic, geography and history, placing for these purposes a college within a day’s ride of every inhabitant of the State, and adding a provision for the full education at the public expense of select subjects from among the children of the poor. 3. A(n) University in which all the branches of science deemed useful at this day, shall be taught in their highest degree”.
In a letter to George Ticknor, 1817
The advancement of popular intelligence constitutes “the keystone of the arch of our government”,
In a letter to John Adams, 1813
“I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness”.
In a letter to George Wythe, 1786
Part of the General Diffusion of Knowledge
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree."
Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia
Part of the General Diffusion of Knowledge
"Though [the people] may acquiesce, they cannot approve what they do not understand."
Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on apportionment Bill, 1792
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey
"No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity."
Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Board of Visitors Minutes
"Light and liberty go together."
Thomas Jefferson to Tench Coxe, 1795.
"Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty."
Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
"And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787.
"A system of general instruction, which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest, as it was the earliest, so will it be the latest of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest."
Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell
"I feel... an ardent desire to see knowledge so disseminated through the mass of mankind that it may, at length, reach even the extremes of society: beggars and kings."
Thomas Jefferson: Reply to American Philosophical Society, 1808.
Links to Articles in Orange County Register
The following links are to articles in the Orange County Register and the Irvine World News. These articles are about the recent demonstration in support of fully funding education.
Orange County Register March 22 Article
Orange County Register March 23 Article
Irvine World News March 24 Article Be sure to continue onto page 22 where the article continues.
Orange County Register March 22 Article
Orange County Register March 23 Article
Irvine World News March 24 Article Be sure to continue onto page 22 where the article continues.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Poetic SOS Orange County
Poetic SOS Orange County
This Just in From Orange County 9:00 PM 3/22/05
Sherry,
It is 8 PM on Tuesday March 22nd, and I have just returned from the protest rally at the Governor's speech in Orange County. The rally was an overwhelming success. There were bus loads of parents and kids from all across Orange County. There were teachers and nurses, firefighters and police. There were librarians and school-board members. My guess is there were more than 3500 people at the rally. In a pouring rain.
We started out on the street outside the hotel grounds, but as the actual event neared we walked across the security lines en mass and held the remainder of the demonstration in front of the hotel. As cars rolled into the event they were confronted with a mass of citizens chanting, booing and shouting. The best ones were the hugh limos which got the loudest roars.
To my knowledge no one was arrested and there were no altercations.
I can't express how proud I am of the parents, teachers and the entire Ed Community in Orange County. It seems we have the start of a social movement on our hands. A social movement in support of public education in this State. Next up will be another virtual advocacy day in April. The date will be sent out soon.
The Sacramento Safari will be held on Wednesday April 20th and Thursday April 21st. More than 100 volunteer legislative advocates for the CAPTA will travel to Sacramento to advocate for our kids.
After that is the Caravan for kids and the State Convention for the CAPTA, including a rally on the steps of the capitol on Thursday April 28th at
noon.
I hope to see you all there.
Steven Lustig
VP Leg Fourth Dist CAPTA.
This Just in From Orange County 9:00 PM 3/22/05
Sherry,
It is 8 PM on Tuesday March 22nd, and I have just returned from the protest rally at the Governor's speech in Orange County. The rally was an overwhelming success. There were bus loads of parents and kids from all across Orange County. There were teachers and nurses, firefighters and police. There were librarians and school-board members. My guess is there were more than 3500 people at the rally. In a pouring rain.
We started out on the street outside the hotel grounds, but as the actual event neared we walked across the security lines en mass and held the remainder of the demonstration in front of the hotel. As cars rolled into the event they were confronted with a mass of citizens chanting, booing and shouting. The best ones were the hugh limos which got the loudest roars.
To my knowledge no one was arrested and there were no altercations.
I can't express how proud I am of the parents, teachers and the entire Ed Community in Orange County. It seems we have the start of a social movement on our hands. A social movement in support of public education in this State. Next up will be another virtual advocacy day in April. The date will be sent out soon.
The Sacramento Safari will be held on Wednesday April 20th and Thursday April 21st. More than 100 volunteer legislative advocates for the CAPTA will travel to Sacramento to advocate for our kids.
After that is the Caravan for kids and the State Convention for the CAPTA, including a rally on the steps of the capitol on Thursday April 28th at
noon.
I hope to see you all there.
Steven Lustig
VP Leg Fourth Dist CAPTA.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Poetic SOS Orange County
Information From Orange County!!! I think they will definitely be heard!
I received the following information today from Steven Lustig, VP of Legislation for the CAPTA for Orange County. I wanted to share it with you because it shows what a tremendous job Orange County is doing in organizing and speaking out about fully funding education in California.
This first note is about a large street protest that is being planned for this week when Governor Schwarzenegger visits Irvine:
Sherry,
I am the VP of Legislation for the CAPTA for Orange County. I just wanted to update you on what Orange County is doing about the lack of proper funding and governance in our public schools. This Tuesday, March 22nd at 6PM the Governor is coming to Irvine to speak to a wealthy, elite group of businessmen. Admission is by invitation only, and a steep donation.
The Education Coalition has mobilized to organize a street protest the size of which Orange County has never seen before. The CAPTA in Orange County has a highly developed network of Leg Advocates that has just exploded since the Governor broke "the Deal" recently. We have waves of parents who had never been involved in advocacy switching their organizing efforts from fund raising for their schools to letter writing campaigns,virtual advocacy days, school board demonstrations, and now a huge street demonstration.
Orange County alone has sent more than 10,000 lettersto the governor and legislators. We have bus loads of parents and kids coming from across Orange County. We are coordinating our efforts with the classified employee unions, the teacher's union, and many more. We have people making signs and banners to hang over freeway over passes. We are printing tee-shirts with protest statements.
We have all the local print and television media coming. One reporter is doing a piece for the Orange County Register on the sudden shift of parents into the political arena. He is going to be riding with us on one of our buses to the rally. In addition, we have an annual legislative junket to Sacramento each spring. This year we are taking nearly 100 parents to be briefed, trained, and engage our legislators. Our trip is on Wednesday April 20 and Thursday April 21st. Its called the Sacramento Safari. That's it for now.
Steven M. Lustig VP Leg, Fourth Dist., CAPTA
The following editoral article appeared in a recent Orange County newspaper:
"Arnold Needs an Eighth Grade History Lesson" - to read this article, please go to the archieves for the Orange County Register.
I received the following information today from Steven Lustig, VP of Legislation for the CAPTA for Orange County. I wanted to share it with you because it shows what a tremendous job Orange County is doing in organizing and speaking out about fully funding education in California.
This first note is about a large street protest that is being planned for this week when Governor Schwarzenegger visits Irvine:
Sherry,
I am the VP of Legislation for the CAPTA for Orange County. I just wanted to update you on what Orange County is doing about the lack of proper funding and governance in our public schools. This Tuesday, March 22nd at 6PM the Governor is coming to Irvine to speak to a wealthy, elite group of businessmen. Admission is by invitation only, and a steep donation.
The Education Coalition has mobilized to organize a street protest the size of which Orange County has never seen before. The CAPTA in Orange County has a highly developed network of Leg Advocates that has just exploded since the Governor broke "the Deal" recently. We have waves of parents who had never been involved in advocacy switching their organizing efforts from fund raising for their schools to letter writing campaigns,virtual advocacy days, school board demonstrations, and now a huge street demonstration.
Orange County alone has sent more than 10,000 lettersto the governor and legislators. We have bus loads of parents and kids coming from across Orange County. We are coordinating our efforts with the classified employee unions, the teacher's union, and many more. We have people making signs and banners to hang over freeway over passes. We are printing tee-shirts with protest statements.
We have all the local print and television media coming. One reporter is doing a piece for the Orange County Register on the sudden shift of parents into the political arena. He is going to be riding with us on one of our buses to the rally. In addition, we have an annual legislative junket to Sacramento each spring. This year we are taking nearly 100 parents to be briefed, trained, and engage our legislators. Our trip is on Wednesday April 20 and Thursday April 21st. Its called the Sacramento Safari. That's it for now.
Steven M. Lustig VP Leg, Fourth Dist., CAPTA
The following editoral article appeared in a recent Orange County newspaper:
"Arnold Needs an Eighth Grade History Lesson" - to read this article, please go to the archieves for the Orange County Register.
