"Reform is not easy. It requires patience and resolve from a diverse number of stakeholders."
Frank Daniels IIIDespite innovative approaches to education Tennessee children still lagging
During the past five months the major candidates for governor of Tennessee and U.S. senator have shared their ideas on several crucial issues facing Tennessee. This month, in the final installment of our series, candidates address education. Early voting for the Aug. 2 primaries and county general elections begin July 13.
“An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”
No, Thomas Jefferson did not write that, and no records exist that he said it, yet the quote has been attributed to him in thousands of arguments on the importance of education because it is apt.
While the wording is not Jefferson’s, the quote does embody the founding father’s philosophy and sentiment.
As a member of the Virginia House of Delegates Thomas Jefferson first advocated for a tax-funded system of public education in 1779. He could not get his bill passed as a member of the House, nor during his two terms as governor. It was not until after the Civil War that Virginia established a system of tax-funded public schools.
The gulf between talking about the importance of education and making the words have meaning through action was not then, nor is it now, easy.
[Read more at The Tennessean].
