"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..."
~Thomas Jefferson
Every morning I start my day by going through my emails and logging on to social media. I enjoy reading and responding to emails sent from friends and family, and to sending out any of my own. I also enjoy catching up on social media, seeing photos of friends and family, new babies, weddings, and all manner of catching up with people I don't see much any more. There are posts having to do with my interests-- knitting and home food preservation being two big ones. There are posts about books I'd like to read, and some on history. There is much to enrich my mornings for sure.
This morning I happened on a most interesting history related post. It was from the Monticello Foundation, the organization that maintains the home of Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is a virtual tour of the home, and is so well done I spent the better part of an hour and found I'd only "toured" three of the rooms! There was his art collection, his collection of Lewis and Clark memorabilia, maps on the wall and various scientific tools of his day. A very interesting piece was a clock in the Hall, with a complex mechanism that worked the clock face above the front door. On the inside it measured hours, minutes and seconds, and a second face on the outside of the house above the door measured just the hour. It is still working, and must be wound weekly, which is a complicated procedure involving a ladder and a big wrench that pulls the clock weights back up to the top of the line they hang from. You can click on the icon by the clock and it takes you to a video of the clock being wound.
The tour, though virtual, was as good as the real ones I've taken at Monticello, because the real ones had so many people it was hard to see sometimes. The virtual one allowed me to meander about the room, clicking on the many icons that lead to descriptions and videos and snippets of information given by docents. If you are a history buff, I highly recommend a visit here:
http://explorer.monticello.org/virtualtour/
As I toured through, one of the things that was emphasized was Jefferson's focus on the importance of education to liberty. His opinion was that educating the populace was so crucial to the system of democratic government he favored that it was all a part of the same system. Public education was critical to the functioning of the government. An uneducated populace was more likely to fall victim to despots, dictators, scam artists and dare I say, conspiracy theories. He was so convinced of this that he founded The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and on his tombstone that achievement is listed just below Author of the Declaration of Independence. Third President of the United States of America is not mentioned!
Jefferson's emphasis on public education brings to mind where we are today with our educational system. Teachers are underpaid, feel disrespected, and indeed have been criticized and hounded by public officials who offer up ridiculous testing schedules for students or charter schools with religious ties as the answer to educating our children. I am not opposed to religious education... if it occurs within a religious organization outside the public system. I think Jefferson would argue that the emphasis in school should not be religion but in the study of art, science, math, history, philosophy. I agree with him... the goal of education should be to teach the student to think, to use rational thought to solve problems, to learn from history so it isn't repeated and that teaching creativity in art can expand into creativity of thought. A populace educated in that way can solve problems, advance knowledge and the human condition! And, maintain and promote our democracy...
Jefferson was not a perfect man. He has been justly criticized for being a slave owner and for fathering children with one of his slaves. How could someone who wrote so eloquently of liberty have enslaved so many fellow humans? I have found I can still find value in his words, in his home, in his enlightenment to the arts, education, science, math, etc. if I include the paradox of his slave owning in the mix. It makes him flawed, less godlike. Brilliant but culpable. A creative, highly educated man who had much to teach us in both his achievements and his flaws. I highly recommend going to the link above, and reading more about this complex man.
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society, but the people themselves:
and if we think them not enlightened enough
to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion,
the remedy is, not to take it from them,
but to inform their discretion by education.
This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."
~Thomas Jefferson
