Essay: Educational Ideas of Thomas Jefferson

Sample Essay

Words 1,543

“While struggling to obtain funds to complete the University of Virginia, Jefferson also professed that, if forced to choose between establishing a system of general education and finishing the university [he] would rather abandon the last, because it is safer to have a whole people respectably enlightened, than few in a high state of science [knowledge], and many in ignorance.” (qtd in Wagoner 13)

The idea that there should be a basic level of education present in the country instead of a few highly qualified individuals today is apparent today. In order for a country to be successful its need to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. An economy flourishes when there is a large middle class and very small upper class and lower class. A successful economy has a large middle class society which means that the middle class could make up the majority. For the majority to be right and democracy to take its full affect the population must be educated. Affording a college education in any time in history has been expensive. It is useless to have a few rich people, who only make up the minority indulge in a high level of education at the expense of the middle class which makes up the majority. In a democracy, the majority makes the decisions and when the majority is the middle class it must be educated and ‘respectably enlightened’ as Jefferson said. This is apparent today because the majority of the population is educated. Everyone is provided a basic education through a public schooling system free of cost. Also, gone are the days of racism and segregation. Jefferson’s vision makes sense even today because we continue to be a republican/democrat government. To be able to vote everyone must have a basic education and no one today is denied a basic k-12 education at the expense of higher and more expensive education.

Any theological text is best understood to the person reading it if it’s in his or her own language. Translation causes a lot to be lost and interpretation causes confusions and conflicting ideas. If a person wants to truly understand his or her religion or poetry perhaps, he or she must go back to the original. To learn the real meaning of what God asked of a human being will only be most clear in the language God sent the message in. Therefore to understand anything in depth and with utmost clarity it is important to know all the languages. Education in any subject matter can become clearer once the knowledge is obtained from the original source.

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