Thomas Jefferson’s epitaph in Virginia leaves out one salient fact and includes another lesser known achievement:
Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia
Jefferson was immensely proud of his role in founding the university, which was his secular answer to William and Mary in Virginia.
Today public education is under attack, with schools being blamed for failing students. Rather than addressing the labyrnthine question of who or what is to blame, we want to see how our system of public education came about.
Without Thomas Jefferson, it may not have happened.
Democracy requires a free and local system of education
Jefferson was among the first to establish a direct connection of a public education to the success of a democracy. Jefferson insisted that public funds be used to educate the children of the poor, an idea scorned by the aristocracy of his time, which educated its progeny with private tutors.
Although the movement for mass public education did not begin until the 1830s with Horace Mann, Jefferson’s ideas were the incubator for local education. Jefferson believed in decentralized, local government and local control of education.
According to Jefferson, democratic laws must emerge from the voices and needs of the people who must live under them. “Government by consent of the governed” says the 1776 Declaration. Sensible laws require thinking citizens.
An ignorant citizenry can succumb to the siren calls of tyrants.
Human talent is not limited to the privileged
Human talent must be cultivated. Creativity is born into the rich and poor alike. Only an organized system of public education can identify and cultivate those talents toward public service and private accomplishment, Jefferson said.
Education would become a tool of advancement, counteracting the privileges of birth. Education is crucial to America’s vision of itself to this day as a free arena of open and fair competition where all can make it who strive.
All has not, it can safely be said, gone according to Jefferson’s Enlightenment plan.
Tom couldn’t see these coming
Jefferson’s legacy has led to hotly contested issues. What might he think?
Homeschooling. The state has a duty to educate all of its citizens in the Jeffersonian sense, but parents are sovereign over their children to raise as they see fit. Might a home schooled child have significant gaps in their knowledge and skills? Yes, maybe. Might he or she be unprepared for a diverse society? Perhaps. Jefferson, however, seems to weigh in on the side of the parent rather than the state in saying, “It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a parent refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings and ideas by the forcible asportation [removal] and education of the infant against the will of the father.”
District consolidation. My home state of New Jersey has hundreds of separate school districts, some separated by only a few acres of land. Each has its own superintendent, transportation official, curriculum coordinator, business administrator and other official positions. These positions come with hefty price tags to local taxpayers. A movement to consolidate these districts would save much taxpayer money. But it would also make the system less responsive to its constituents. Jefferson sought immediate impact, but we are in an age of fiscal austerity.
School taxes. Imagine yourself a retiree. Your school taxes are going up again, but you’re on a fixed income. Does the school really need that new gym and swimming pool, or are these luxuries whose cost should not be laid at your door? And should you pay for the education of children of undocumented children? Jefferson would say, if they aren’t educated, how will they contribute to society?
Tracking and ability grouping. This immensely complex debate requires years of study and data analysis. In multiple-ability groupings, do the fast students bring the others up, or do the weaker students slow the whole class down? Research has not been clear. Jefferson’s logic leads to general groupings on the grounds that school prepares for the diversity of life in America.
National v. local curricula. An opponent of centralization, Jefferson would probably oppose a national curriculum. State by state curriculum preserves flexibility. For example, in an agricultural economy like Montana, students would learn about soil chemistry and crop rotation, something urbanites don’t need to know. Such flexibility suggests states rights and local control. But imagine if a child moves from Montana to Massachusetts? Would not one national curriculum serve us better? Welcome to the Common Core fight.
So what was the achievement downplayed by Jefferson in his epitaph?
If you didn’t know that Jefferson was our third president, please subscribe to the History Dr! But seriously, Jefferson is our great sage, our Enlightenment philosopher. We can thank him for the ideal of an informed citizenry making enlightened policies to improve life for all.
We are all Jefferson’s children.
For more on the lingering influence of the founding fathers, check out one of several posts on Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson’s intellectual rival. Leave a comment below.