According to Jefferson’s Plan

1. According to Jefferson’s Plan • Who should be educated? • What knowledge should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)? • What values should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)? • Who should control the curriculum (and for what purposes)?

2. Thomas Jefferson • Jefferson’s vocations were in law & agriculture • He gained fame as a scientist, philosopher and statesman • He was best known for his revolutionary ideas • Born in West Virginia to a prosperous landowner & farmer

3. Faith in Reason Natural Law Republican Virtue Progress Nationalism Freedom Fundamental Tenets of Classical Liberal Ideology (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

4. Faith in Reason • A better guide than tradition, custom, and dogmatic faith • Mind as “blank slate” • Humankind capable of great feats • Galileo, Copernicus, Newton (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

5. Natural Law “Universe is a machine” Understanding yields control Science replaces theology as guide to action (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

6. Republican Virtue • Perfectibility of the individual • Duties to God and to nature • The work ethic • Men’s virtues/ Women’s virtues (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

7. Progress • Continual individual and societal progress toward perfection • Changing the world to what ought to be • Revolution as an option • Education as the vehicle (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

8. Nationalism • Allegiance to a nation, not a state • A new national identity • Uneasy balance between national government and local self- determination (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

9. Freedom • “Negative freedom” • Intellectual • Free from external coercion of church and state • Political • Representative government • Civic • Freedom to “live as one pleases” • Bill of Rights • Economic • “Laissez-faire” economy • The Wealth of Nations (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

10. Jefferson’s Plan for Popular Education Elementary Schools Grammar Schools University Self-Education (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

11. First Tier—Elementary Schools • Foundation of entire education structure • Decentralized districts • Three years of free education • Screening for future leaders • Preparing citizens for effective functioning

12. Second Tier—Grammar Schools • Boarding schools • Languages, advanced curriculum • Developing local leadership • Preparation for university (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

13. Third Tier—University Education • Common education from grammar schools allowed for advanced instruction • Specialization in a “science” • Preparation for leadership—law, government, the professions • Education for meritocracy

14. Fourth Tier—Self-Education • Lifelong learning as the culmination of educational aims • Jefferson’s support of public libraries • “Knowledge is power; knowledge is safety; knowledge is happiness”

15. Concluding Remarks • Political economy and ideology influenced early education processes, inside and outside of schools • Jefferson’s thinking reveals the tensions in classical liberalism • Admirable ideals versus the “dominant ideology”

16. Aristocracy: rule by the best, --or a system of government, sometimes based on nobility: but often a privileged class holding hereditary titles, or an upper class known as aristocrats. Meritocracy: is a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by wealth or social position; merit means roughly intelligence plus effort. One implication is that whatever level in society a citizen reaches is held to be what she deserves. Meritocracy is also sometimes used to describe a government or other body that stresses formal education and competence over other features, such as ancestry.

17. Jefferson • The man who farmed his land, it was thought, depended on no one for the livelihood of his family • The family ruled the transmission of culture, values and religion. • The family was patriarchal. The husband / father was expected to rule the family and provide wisdom, and love as well as economic substance.

18. Jefferson’s “Virginia Plan” consisted of several key tenets Schools of the Hundreds - Each county is divided into small, 5-6 square mile districts, (called “hundreds), each of which containing one basic school - The schools were for “all” children and taught basic literacy and education in: reading, writing, and arithmetic - “the principal foundations of future order will be laid here” (95)

19. Grammar schools • Every year, “the boy of best genius” is sent to a grammar school • At grammar school, students would learn “Greek, Latin, geography and he higher branches of numerical arithmetic” (94) • - every one or two years, the best students are selected to continue grammar school for six years

20. William and Mary College • At the end of six years of grammar school, one half of students are selected to study science of their choice at William and Mary College • These students are to be the leaders of the new society • *Notice Jefferson’s rationale for not permitting religion in the schools, for it is a largely private matter • National libraries – Jefferson also envisioned the creation of national libraries, for the benefit of all citizens, not simply students.

21. According to Jefferson’s Plan • Who should be educated? • What knowledge should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)? • What values should be taught? (Why/For what purposes)? • Who should control the curriculum (and for what purposes)?