The Best Laid Plans

BY: Tiffany Bradley

There were so three very important Republican Educational Theorists. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush were the two that caught my attention. Jefferson’s Bill for the More General Diffusion of knowledge was introduced in the Virginia legislature in 1779. The bill was proposed to establish a system of public schools for the state. The bill wanted each county to be subdivided into parts called hundreds. Which was to provide a tax-supported elementary school. Attendance however, would be free for all white children, male and female, for 3 years. The curriculum would primarily focus on reading, writing, arithmetic, and history. Jefferson’s beliefs were that through the study of history students would learn to recognize tyranny and support democracy. However, in today’s view it doesn’t really work. It limits access to secondary and higher education to only a small number of the brightest students. But in Jefferson’s day it was considered a good thing. The bill was defeated in Virginia legislature in 1789 and in 1797, and again in 1817. Its defeat was widely due to unwillingness of the wealthy landowners to pay property taxes for the education of the poor. “While Jefferson did not succeed in his campaign for public education, he still had a major influence on education in the United States. His "true success came in his becoming part of the tradition which inspired him. As the ideas of Socrates, Quintilian, and others influenced Jefferson, the ideas of Jefferson influenced Mann, Dewey and other great American educators" (Boutin & Rodgers, 2011, p. 210). ( Webb. L. D. (2014). History of American education: Voices and perspectives. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.) There is no doubt that Jefferson shared the prevailing view of Enlightenment intellectuals that a “general diffusion of knowledge” is essential to a free society. As he wrote in 1816, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” Similarly, in a letter to George Washington (1786), Jefferson said: (“It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan.”) (Smith, H. George (April 3, 2012). Thomas Jefferson on Public Education, Part 1 (http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/thomas-jefferson-public-education-part-1)

Benjamin Rush was deeply interested in education. He wanted to establish a system in Pennsylvania, and eventually the entire nation. That would provide public support for free schools. Rush proposed that in every town of 100 or more families a free school be established where children would be taught to read and write English and German (widely spoken in Pennsylvania at the time) as well as arithmetic. An academy was to be established in each county "for the purpose of instructing youth in the learned languages (Latin and Greek), and thereby preparing them to enter college. However, like Jefferson’s bill, his was too revolutionary to be accepted in its day. It was however, intended to tie the whole educational system together. (Webb. L. D. (2014). History of American education: Voices and perspectives. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.)

I believe we have learnt from the obstacles of our founding fathers. Simply because not everyone wants to pay taxes even if it is for educational purposes. As well as our government has taken control of our educational responsibilities. States as well as the people really have no say so anymore on who our children are educated. We as parents, and teachers have to go with what we are provided. And can’t really speak up or defeated our rights. I believe that our children are not really getting the proper education that they deserve simply because we are not allowed to teach the old traditional way. We now have all the testing that shows what our children are learning, and provides funding for our schooling systems. I do believe that there are a lot of similarities between the obstacles our founding fathers faced, and what we face today. I think Rush had a good idea when he wanted to establish free schools. This would provide the opportunity for any child to be able to receive an education no matter their financial standpoint. I feel our government is control of just about everything nowadays including education. Like I said before, we have no say anymore. Common Core Standards are pretty much a must do, and we must abide by it. So, that our schools can receive funding to educate our children.

References:

(Smith, H. George (April 3, 2012). Thomas Jefferson on Public Education, Part 1 (http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/thomas-jefferson-public-education-part-1)

( Webb. L. D. (2014). History of American education: Voices and perspectives. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.) Chapter 3

Guided Response: When responding to your peers, please start with the following prompt: “A solution I would have suggested for the founding fathers in order to see their plans fulfilled is…” Please respond to at least two peers.

By: Ronald Taylor Jr

Jefferson's Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, introduced in the Virginia legislature in 1779, proposed the establishment of a system of public schools for the state. (Webb. L. D., 2014). In my opinion the reason why this bill did not pass is because the bill was a negative for the rich people in that era and it was a time where class system thinking was more prevalent so anything that was for taking money from the rich became an issue. “Madison reported a year later, when TJ’s Bill was again considered, that the system was carefully considered but not adopted because of the cost involved.” (founders.archives.gov, n.d)” Its defeat can be attributed in large part to the unwillingness of the wealthy landowners to pay property taxes for the education of the poor.” (Webb. L.D., 2014)

The Sunday school, a form of charity school, was begun in 1780 in England by Robert Raikes. In my opinion the reason why this bill did not pass was because it started to promote a more religious bases then an academic one and it caused the dynamic to change and eventually die out. “By 1830 the initial secular purpose of the Sunday school had been superseded by religious interests, and, although they continued to teach reading, they came to be religious institutions operated by Sunday school societies with primarily evangelical missions.” .” (Webb. L.D., 2014)” He saw that because of a six-out-of-seven day workweek, they had no means of moral, religious or educational development.” (churchmouse.wordpress.com, 2011) The idea of Sunday school became overall a way to keep people going to church because they were tired on weekdays.

Have we learned from the obstacles that our founding fathers faced?

I would say that overall I think that we have learned from the obstacles that our founding fathers faced, we have more of an understanding that education needs to be open to all people and all classes and we pay taxes for education. We can also learn what not to do like allow our government to have total control of the educational system,

Do you see similarities between the obstacles our founding fathers faced and what we deal with today? Why, or why not?

Some of the similarities would be on the political and financial end of the educational system. We still argue today on taxes and how much money should go where. We also still have public schools and although there are differences the idea of public school is the same.