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June 14, 2023

Education was once a very noble profession, in fact the best. 

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So where did we get off base? 

We got off base when the National Education Association ceased to be a professional association which sought to improve education, to one that simply lobbied for more money for teachers.

Education hearkens back to the great philosophers of the past.  Aristotle and Plato are just historical examples of men whose goal was to educate all those who would listen.  The Founders of America were well acquainted with the works of these great men and many of their ideas were included in our founding documents.  Even Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was the architect of the University of Virginia, and first rector of the Board of Visitors (the governing body).  This was in March of 1819.

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Historically, education was the job of parents.  The apostle Paul, a Jewish Pharisee, was trained in the Jewish tradition, (Acts 22:3).  Later, after he was saved on the Road to Damascus, he was taught be Jesus, Himself (1 Corinthians 15:8, Galatians 1:12). In fact, the apostle Paul did not consider himself very important as a teacher.  He called himself “the least of the apostles” because he persecuted Christians (1 Corinthians 15:9).

The Jewish tradition made it clear that it was not the duty of the priesthood, or the chief executive, the king, (or the president) but it was the duty of parents to educate their children. The Jewish parent was taught that the word of God was to be paramount in their teaching and they were to “teach them diligently unto thy children” and bind them “as frontlets between thine eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:7-8).

In the Christian tradition the apostle Paul taught that fathers had the chief responsibility in the education of their children, for we read: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

In early America there were no public schools, but every parent understood that they were to educate their own children.  Every parent took this responsibility seriously and as a result a very high percentage of children grew up being good readers and well educated.

Thomas Jefferson, our third president, was well educated, as evidenced by the writing of the Declaration of Independence.  He had an unusual attitude concerning education.

Thomas Jefferson believed only educated citizens could make the American experiment in self-government succeed. He proposed a system of broad, free, public education that was radical in his day and his founding of the University of Virginia partially achieved his larger goals.

President John F. Kennedy had this to say about the talent of Thomas Jefferson:

In a famous toast at a White House dinner in honor of 49 Nobel Prize winners, Kennedy said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when  Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”