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Thomas Jefferson removed from Texas school curriculum.

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TheEgoist

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This is what happens when the State runs the schools, they want to take out anything associated with reason and The Enlightenment because these ideas lead to more freedom and they want to rule. The only equitable solution is to get the state out of education altogether and let individuals run schools as they see fit -- in other words completely privatize the schools. Otherwise, the State will try to teach children and young adults how to be obedient to their masters. The whole age of The Enlightenment was an individualist movement focusing on reason and self-fulfillment through reason and understanding our world on all levels. To take that away and make no reference to that age is to side with the Dark Ages where reason was secondary. It doesn't surprise me that Texans want more religion in their text books, that battle has been going on for years and decades, but to wipe out The Enlightenment is a hard blow to reason and self-esteem, and therefore to freedom and individual rights.

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The only equitable solution is to get the state out of education altogether and let individuals run schools as they see fit -- in other words completely privatize the schools.

"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan." - Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, January 4, 1786

Oh, the irony.

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That's BS. I wonder how many of these people are actual qualified educators or curriculum planners? Since the population of Texas is so large, I've heard this will affect other states. I guess now, further interest group warfare is sadly in order. Maybe California and the north-east can team up and standardize another standard. Outside of religion, who knows what else they may add. Or, in the future, maybe the curriculum can be decided by politics on the national level, by the Federal government.

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"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan." - Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, January 4, 1786

Oh, the irony.

Sadly, funny. Yes, one can say that Jefferson sowed he seeds for his own removal.
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I read something somewhere, I can't remember where, where a guy who works for a textbook company talked about the process for getting textbooks accepted into schools.

In order to save on production costs, they had to come out with textbooks that every state agreed on so that they could just ship one book everywhere. And certain big states had to be catered to because they'd lose a big portion of the market if those rejected the new textbooks. Texas was at the top.

Whatever Texas says, basically goes for the rest of America as far as what material is allowed into the textbooks.

I could be wrong though. I can't find the article again that I read this out of.

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Jefferson has been replaced by John Calvin in History classes in the great state of Texas.

What a horrible fate God has predetermined us for.

I am not impressed with this story. Jefferson is still in the American history curriculum for what he accomplished in his life, but he is not a philosopher on par with Aquinas to be included in a world history.

The story you linked to and others which I found in my own searches all cast this into a "right vs. left" narrative. I don't believe any of what I read when it is explained in those terms, the writers are invariably nonobjective. No story ever bothered to get a quote from Dunbar about what the motive was for this move.

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Why is he not on par with Aquinas? Because he came later? I think there is easily an argument to be made that Jefferson was at least as important as Aquinas.

Jesus Christ came after Buddha, and his teachings (well, the ones that are attributed to him, anyway) seem to have been influenced by Buddha. But I imagine most people would agree that Christ was a more important historical figure.

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"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan." - Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, January 4, 1786

Oh, the irony.

Jefferson was objecting to raw, unprocessed, majority rule Democracy. That sort of rule is mob rule. The business of the state and a general plan is a doctrine that protects rights from abrogation by the passions of a temporary majority in the Body Politic. Our Constitution is an example of what Jefferson was referring to.

Bob Kolker

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Why is he not on par with Aquinas? Because he came later? I think there is easily an argument to be made that Jefferson was at least as important as Aquinas.

Jesus Christ came after Buddha, and his teachings (well, the ones that are attributed to him, anyway) seem to have been influenced by Buddha. But I imagine most people would agree that Christ was a more important historical figure.

I agree with Grames that he is not on a par with Aquinas as a "philosopher". Jefferson was learned in philosophy and probably had some original thought there, but I don't really think of him as a philosopher. He was a brilliant conveyor and arguer for a certain philosophical view that came from men like John Locke, and he was one of the primary founders of the greatest country in history. His legacy is as one of the originators of America, as an implementer of a rational, real-world-oriented, rights-based society. He was the intellect, or one of them, that created America. In addition to that, he was a Renaissance man, so highly educated in a wide array of areas, from music, to architecture, to language. A great example of a man of reason.

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Jefferson was objecting to raw, unprocessed, majority rule Democracy. That sort of rule is mob rule. The business of the state and a general plan is a doctrine that protects rights from abrogation by the passions of a temporary majority in the Body Politic. Our Constitution is an example of what Jefferson was referring to.

Bob Kolker

Jefferson's Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge better fits the description of the "general plan" that he had in mind than the Constitution. Proposed to the Virginia General Assembly, it called for establishment by law and public financing of education.

To his credit, Jefferson sought to secularize education rather than leaving it in the hands of religious authorities and institutions.

Edited by Seeker
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Jefferson is a significant political philosopher, as are many of the Founders. The Founding of America is probably the most important event in the history of political philosophy, and its leading revolutionary and philosopher deserves recognition

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Jefferson is a significant political philosopher, as are many of the Founders. The Founding of America is probably the most important event in the history of political philosophy, and its leading revolutionary and philosopher deserves recognition

I guess as a practicing philosopher, as in applying philosophy. I would agree with that. I'm not sure that he had any original philosophical work, however.

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In this particular case, the person pushing the change -- Cythia Dunbar -- is clearly doing so in order to support her false viewpoint that the U.S. is founded on Christian principles. Jefferson's deism is obviously embarrassing to these folks. Even if they carefully choose quotes from his work, the student could come across other material that clearly shows Jefferson's opposition to government meddling in religion. So, the best approach, from their viewpoint, is to throw out Jefferson altogether.

In that same meeting, a Democrat suggested a change that would have students learn why the founders decided that the government should not favor one religion over another. Cynthia Dunbar objected. it went to vote, and all 10 Republicans voted not to pass it. Surely this cannot be because they are ignorant of the fact; clearly the Republicans on that committee want to teach kids in their district a falsehood that supports their ideological position.

Dunbar is a graduate of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School. That tells us how much she must respect the truth.

This is not a curriculum on philosophy, but on History. Besides, Ms. Dunbar wanted not just to switch a religious philosopher into Jefferson's place. She also wanted to drop reference to the founders being influenced by"the Enlightenment". Put simply, she wanted to add in faith and take out reason. Obviously, the Republicans are trying to allow teachers to teach a false view of U.S. history, which suits their religious prejudices.

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In this particular case, the person pushing the change -- Cythia Dunbar -- is clearly doing so in order to support her false viewpoint that the U.S. is founded on Christian principles.

Ironically, Ms Dunbar, Ms. Cynthia Noland Dunbar, Esq., has written a book, "One Nation Under God; How the Left is Trying to Erase What Made Us Great"

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The prosecution rests our case, my lord!

Amen!

I haven't read the book, but one Amazon reviewer put it:

"One of the more breathtakingly stupid passages claims liberals are evil because they are on the "left", and conservatives are righteous because they are on the "right". It's just that simple--Ecclesiastes told her so."

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