Suitable education

I read an opinion by the Arizona School Administrators that was shared on AZcentral.com.  They included this quote from Thomas Jefferson.  "An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens."

Here is my response:

If Thomas Jefferson were leading the country today, he would have many concerns.  If we put aside the obvious disasters (which is everything the progressives are doing) he might note that there are problems with education.  I won’t pretend to guess his thoughts or actions but I will agree that he was in favor of education for all.  President Jefferson might even “vocalize a call to action for the future of American public education”, whatever that means.  

Of course, how and what to teach is debatable.  I have no problem with public education.  I have a problem with government schools.  I don’t like what they teach or how they do it.  That is the cause of the blatant lack of support for public education. If you want to invoke the founding fathers, then you should ask yourself what someone like Jefferson would view as the goal of education.  What does it mean to have an “enlightened citizenry”? One that is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic?  It does not mean students that fill in bubbles on a standardized test.  It does not mean students who know how to recycle.  The government schools are a waste of time (and a ton of money) because they do not teach what they should.  

What program does your school have that is teaching everyone, not just students, to be self-governing?  The goal of government schools is to create obedient, left-leaning citizens. Workers for the machine of government.  I am interested in a true liberal education, that frees the mind and harnesses the passions.  Instead, schools these days are all about self - expression.  

Thomas Jefferson didn’t go to a public school.  He was taught the wisdom of the ancients.  He didn’t invent any of the ideas that he wrote in the Declaration of Independence.  These were principles that were taught to him by his tutors.  He read and studied and then expressed self evident truths to the world.  However, these are not principles that children study today.  They watch Al Gore movies and cut French words out of magazines.  They sit stoned in class, and the teachers don’t care.  Keeps them quiet.  

How about we teach our children what Thomas Jefferson learned?  Because that is the public education that our children should receive. We need to prepare them to be leaders in our republic.  They can learn to answer questions like: What is justice?  What is the highest good?  Those are questions they should be asking.  Instead we get Common Core.  America’s greatness did not come from beating other nations in math scores, it is based on better principles.  Most of these principles cannot be taught anymore because it would resemble religion, which is now a forbidden subject in school.  The Bible was a part of Thomas Jefferson’s education.

Meanwhile, this silly group called the Arizona School Administrators claims that shared tax money will “undermine the fabric of our democracy”.  Isn’t that a little hysterical?  These bureaucratic types will never have enough money.  There is a current reform proposal in Arizona to allow for voucher-like payments of tax money to schools of the parent’s choice, and that would include private schools.  Perhaps even schools run by a church, heaven forbid.  School Administrators are freaking out.  As if someone is trying to get a piece of their pie.  They own it, right?  They believe that all school money rightfully belongs to government educators.  I wish they could learn how to budget that pie and then maybe stop the constant requests for donations of paper for the local high school.  Money for public education comes from taxes.  From We the People.  It is my money and should be spent how I see fit.  There should be no rule that tax money never be spent on anything but government schools.  We need school choice and less money taken from us to be wasted on poor education.   

This school administrators group wants to use Thomas Jefferson’s quote as a call for support of public education.  I don’t think they understand what he was asking for.  Providing a suitable education does not mean more control, more money and a government monopoly.  They don’t get it. Read the Jefferson quote again.  I think it convicts them as failures to accomplish what he was asking for.