Jefferson

Regardless of what I read about Thomas Jefferson (and Joe Ellis' book The American Sphinx is top-flight), he never seems to match up with Lincoln or Washington.  Oh, Jefferson is a superstar, no doubt about it. His second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is the American Creed.

I think JFK wasn't far off the mark when, at a dinner for Nobel prize winners, he said, "This is the second greatest congregation of intelligence the White House has ever seen."  The "greatest," he added, was when "Jefferson dined alone."

Still he belongs in the American Hall of Fame, along with John Adams, Alex Hamilton, Ben Franklin, James Madison, et al. 

For some time there have been e-mails going around about things Jefferson purportedly said.  Although the sentiments are correct, not all are accurate.  Here is a quotation that he did utter and it's very appropriate, although it came 200+ years ago in 1795 (if I remember correctly).  "Our citizens are divided into two political sects.  One which fears the people most, the other the government."

Here's another, from his First Inaugural Address:  "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.  This is the sum of good government...."

And today's Democrats claim to be "the party of Jefferson."

Let me add some things about MOOCs, the current trend toward more and more online and virtual courses.  (Are they the same??????)   I realize that I am a Luddite, one to whom technology is not "God."  Hey, I still don't have a cellphone!  I also know the purported virtues of online courses/education, individuals working at their own paces/levels, making education more available to more people (particularly the poor, which I think is a specious argument), etc.  I've blogged before about the trend toward more and more of these online courses, so no need to cover that again.  But I read two articles about MOOCs last week, one bashing them and one defending them.  And there was one common theme throughout both articles.  Boiled down, it was this:  follow the money!  That, as I've suggested before, is behind this (and many other pseudo-reforms in education).  It's not about improving education (oh, maybe a bit, but not the primary goal), but making somebody lots of money.  "The Common Core," "Everyday Math," etc., you name, it and then just follow the money and you'll see what their real goals are.