Fiala on ethics: July 4 marks promise of education, democracy

July 4 marks promise of education, democracy
By Andrew Fiala
The Fresno Bee

We may be created equal and endowed with basic rights, but we are not born knowing this. Education is required to help us understand our rights and the legal structure that protects them. Thomas Jefferson once warned, "if a nation expects to be both ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be." As we head toward Independence Day it is important to recall the essential connection between education and democracy.

American schools and universities have the opportunity to change the world. Consider this remarkable fact: The newly elected President of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, were both educated in the United States. Morsi received his Ph.D. from USC. He taught at Cal State Northridge. Two of his children were born in California, which means that they are U.S. citizens. Netanyahu graduated from high school in Philadelphia and later earned degrees from MIT.

This reminds us of the global reach of the American educational system. Not only are we educating our own citizens but also people from across the planet. This is an amazing opportunity to disseminate democratic values.

Since Plato, democracy has been criticized as unstable rule of the ignorant mob. If the masses are uneducated and immoral, democracy can produce negative outcomes. And if the rulers are not properly educated, they become despotic demagogues who pander to the mob. Plato's solution was anti-democratic. He wanted to educate the best individuals -- those of good breeding. This ruling elite would then keep the masses under control through the use of propaganda and force.

The American Founders proposed a different solution: more and better education. Faith in the power of education is a deeply American ideal.

Benjamin Franklin argued that there was nothing more important to the common good than "to train up youth in wisdom and virtue." He continued: "wise and good men are, in my opinion, the strength of the state." Franklin even imagined, contrary to the prevailing opinion of his day, that education could be of value for women and blacks. Franklin worked to establish the Philadelphia Academy, a school that played a central role in the intellectual lives of many of the Founding Fathers.

Jefferson wanted the state of Virginia to fund public education for all citizens. The Virginia legislature balked at the expense. But Jefferson persuaded the state to fund the University of Virginia. Jefferson argued that "primary education" should "instruct the mass of our citizens in their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens." Higher education was to go further in educating future statesmen, scientists, and business leaders. The university was to "develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order ... rendering them examples of virtue to others, and of happiness within themselves."

George Washington was also an ardent supporter of education. Washington asked the first U.S. Congress to consider establishing a national university. In his address to that first Congress, Washington stated that among other things, education was essential for "teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights." He went on to say that education teaches citizens "to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness -- cherishing the first, avoiding the last."

The Founders thought that education would produce virtue, wisdom and love of liberty. This would prevent democracy from sinking toward rule of the uneducated, vicious mob. And it would prevent statesmen from becoming demagogues.

For two centuries, Americans have worked hard to improve our educational system. We now have universal and free public primary education. Our schools are less segregated. And our universities are the envy of the world.

But it's not easy to provide quality education in an incredibly complex society that includes recent immigrants and noncitizens. Teachers are supposed to get this diverse group of children to understand their rights and value democratic governance.

Public school teachers are the guardians of the future of democracy. As we contemplate budget cuts and taxes for education, we should ask ourselves how much we are willing to spend in order to educate citizens (and even noncitizens) about the need to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.

Imagine the humiliation the writer must feel. He talks about the importance of education to democracy, yet fails to understand that the Founding Fathers never wanted democracy here. Seems that education did indeed fail him. I'll bet he was Federally educated.

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."
John Adams

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
Benjamin Franklin

I could keep going. They all felt the same about democracy no matter what the revisionist say (same thing about their feeling on Christianity and how it shaped the government).

The author should also find it quite funny that education levels in this country really started dropping only when the Federal Government started to take over. The following article shows some of the bullying techniques used including withholding money for LOW INCOME STUDENTS (imagine the hypocrisy). I find it funny that he uses Jefferson as an example, but clearly states, in his own article, that Jefferson wanted STATES to control education

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/the_federal_takeover_of_educat.html

I mean yeah, let's put everything into the hands of the Federal government. It sure does make things easy on us. Too bad pretty much everything the Federal Government touches is a waste of time, energy and money. True liberty and freedom is never easy.

Tell me again how well we rank in education. Tell me again just how much we spend on it. Tell me again where we ranked before the Feds took control. Tell me again how much we spent.

Articles like this do nothing to solve the problem. Articles like this are just beating one's head against a brick wall. Articles like this expose the lunacy of thought in today's society.