What IS Thomas Jefferson Education??

I get this question a lot from family, friends and other curious folks who have talked with me for a few minutes about my educational philosophy. I will try to answer this very large question as well as I can, and I will also encourage anyone who is still unclear to visit this link: http://www.tjed.org/tjed/intro and see what the "experts" say.

Basically, there are three types of education in the world today: training, professional and leadership.

Training is just that -- job training. Training prepares students to enter the work force. Generally, students with a strictly training type of education will spend their life working for someone else. Training is great! Who wants their doctor or tax accountant to enter their profession without it??!! Training teaches a person what to think in a given situation and how to follow directions. I personally feel that much of my personal education has been training.

Professional education teaches a person when to think and when to apply their knowledge to given situations. The most perfect example I can think of (though there are thousands) right now is that of the field of engineering. Engineers go through a great deal of professional education as they become experts in their field and learn when each "nugget" of knowledge is applicable and necessary. In other fields, like art or history or business, engineers may or may not have the knowledge to excel. Their professional engineering education did not give them these types of knowledge. Again, professional education is great! Where would our world be without professionals who are true experts in their fields??

Finally, there is leadership education (I call it Thomas Jefferson education). This one is more difficult for me to define, other than saying it teaches students to be leaders. Duh! Leadership Education has three primary goals. First, to train thinkers, leaders, and entrepreneurs—those with understanding and competence to lead society (do things right) and the moral character to act with integrity in the areas they lead in (do the right thing). Second, to perpetuate freedom by helping people understand what freedom is and what must be done to maintain it, and inspiring them to actually do the difficult things required to make it happen. Third, teach students how to think, which is how the first two goals must be accomplished. Those who know how to think are able to lead effectively and help a society remain free and prosperous, while those who know only when or what to think will be unable to do so. (most of this paragraph was quoted from the link above)

I know I'm about to get on my soap box and get comfortable for a few minutes, so if you're not interested in reading, feel free to stop here.

All three styles of education are important and perform a vital function in any society. Allow me to put each in a little bit of historical perspective:

Training is sometimes called "conveyor-belt" education because it was invented at the time of the industrial revolution where schools were established to educate the poor who at that time didn't go to school much at all. These schools were the precursor of our public education system where students were required to learn a specific set of skills. Each student was (and is) tested the same as every other student in his/her age group regardless of natural ability or interest. At the end, society received a relatively literate group of employees ready to build a workforce.

Professional education is even older, going back hundreds of years, and used to be called apprenticeship. Young people would work with older professionals for a period of time until they became expert enough to venture out on their own -- the more complicated the job, the longer the apprenticeship. You could argue that many professions today still incorporate a style of apprenticeship in their education (medicine, law, teaching, trades, etc.).

Leadership education is the oldest of all. I call it Thomas Jefferson education because this is how he was educated -- studying a wide variety of fields, reading the best books in each field, reading and studying original works, and learning morals and values alongside skills in his reading. This is what allowed all of our founding fathers to make principled, well-thought, and even creative proposals for our new nation. They had studied the great minds of times gone past ... through their actual writings not the commentaries found in textbooks.

What makes me sad, personally, is that our society has grown and flipped the three educational models upside down. Now, the "conveyor belt" model of education is the norm for over 90% of American students. Professional education is declining and now seems to be limited to a very few professions. Leadership education, the style of education that had been around for arguably thousands of years and studied by every great thinker and leader in history, is now not only the scarcest of all styles but also most readily ridiculed. What are we going to do when we end up with a society of workers and professionals trying to fill the role of leaders without the knowledge or ability to freely think for themselves?! It's a scary thought, and even scarier is the answer history gives us. The Roman republic fell after about 300 years not from outside conquerors, but because they had no more true, moral leaders and the populace demanded a dictator. The Germany of the 1930s was arguably the most well trained populace the world has ever seen. BUT they lacked true leaders, and easily fell for Nazi propaganda. History is truly replete with examples of similar examples of what happens when we lose the ability to think for ourselves and seem to only have the ability to regurgitate what someone else has told us.

To be clear, all three of these styles of education can easily be found in public schools, private schools and home schools. Colleges, universities and trade schools. The key lies in knowing what you are looking for and what you want for yourself and your children. As I said, I feel my education was far more "conveyor belt" than leadership, but it's not too late -- I'm not dead yet! :) Now is my time to educate myself and teach myself how to think. For me, the added bonus is teaching at a school that strives for leadership education in every way.

I'm off my soap box, now ... for now. I hope I've answered some of your questions and given you something to think about.

First Quarter over!!

Yes, that's right, despite my extreme tardiness at updating my blog, our school did open and we have successfully finished our first quarter. We still have random workers here and there: finishing the floor in the basement, touching up paint, waxing floors, etc. But on the whole we are totally settled and happy as can be. I really do love my school and the chance I get to teach such great kids in such an incredible environment. That came home to me this week as we were discussing one of our new 8th grade girls. She is a "typical" 8th grade girl, more boy crazy than book crazy, and not always the best example of a virtuous young woman. She's not that different than most 8th grade girls I've known. You know, clothes a bit too tight, very friendly with the boys, and a little bit gossipy. It struck me because while she is completely normal according to most people's definitions of a 13/14 year old girl with raging hormones and an ever changing body, she totally stands out in our school. Our school director works very hard at creating a spiritual environment where our students can develop their best selves ... and the boys don't have to be embarrassed by what some of the girls wear. I love teaching in an environment where students are pushed to achieve their personal best in all areas of life. It's true Thomas Jefferson education, and I even dare to say a little bit closer to how the Savior would have us educate our children.

Anyway, here are the last of my pictures from the move and unloading ... I'm hoping you can sympathize a little with why I've been so remiss in my blog updating ...


Even 3 year old Ella got to help clean desks before they went inside.



Imagine the trash and charity donations you found last time you moved your house ... now imagine 8 tractor trailers worth of stuff ...

School Progress

On September 8, we were supposed to start school ... but we didn't. We did have an all school picnic, though, hence the pictures of our cute kids. I also took some pictures of the school that day, so you can see the progress. I'm going to take my camera all week this week, too. We've already come a long way. This is the final push to be able to open on Monday. Stay tuned ...

I LOVE UTAH!

Guess where this beautiful scenery is?? Zions? Nope. Snow Canyon. No. Bryce? Absolutely NOT! Give up??

It's just above NEPHI!! For those unfamiliar with Utah terrain. This whole red rock, spire type scenery is usually found in Southern Utah, not an hour away from where I live in the Wasatch range of mountains. Yet, here it is. It's a place called Devil's Kitchen on the Mount Nebo Loop Scenic Byway.

I had to drive down to Nephi last Tuesday, and decided to take advantage of this scenic route home. The drive starts in Nephi and comes out in Payson after going up (9400 ft) and behind Mount Nebo and adjacent mountains. The views were stunning of Mount Nebo, Utah County and Lake, and just general scenery. I can't wait to get back up there (probably next summer) to hike and/or camp and enjoy it even more.

Please excuse the haze in the pictures ... it was raining down in the valley.

Visiting St. Louis

On my recent trip to St. Louis to visit my family, I felt like a real tourist as we toured the Fox Theatre and the St. Lous Cathedral. I will add a disclaimer that I only had my camera phone for pictures and the quality is pretty horrible. I hope you will be able to see and experience the beauty of these places (especially if you've never been there ... or even if you have) despite the blurry pictures. :)


On Wednesday night, we went to the Zoo where they were having a wine tasting event with live bands. There were TONS of people there for the "free" wine. I went to hang out with my parents, see the animals, and hear the music. There weren't many animals out, but we did see the bears. The band was only so-so. The highlight was the free ride on the zoo carousel with mom and Paul. They just don't build them like that anymore. It was really fun.



On Thursday, we did some real touristing. We toured the Fox theatre in downtown St. Louis. For those of you who aren't from there, the Fox was built in 1929 as a silent movie theatre, but quickly converted to movies with sound. The Wurlitzer organ in the pictures is original to the theatre and was installed to provide the "soundtrack" to the silent movies. Stan Kann (seen a few times on the Johnny Carson show) is also original to the theatre, kind of. :) He's been playing the organ there since the 1950s. He's quite amazing and very spry for a man in his mid-80s. It was a really neat tour, and one I highly recommend.



After the Fox, we went to the St. Louis Cathedral. PLEASE maximize this slide show and really take it all in. It's so unbelievably beautiful in there. Every picture, every inch of the ceilings are MOSAICS! That's right: little pieces of broken glass, some with gold leaf, all come together to make these beautiful pictures. I only wish more of my pictures would have turned out.

We finished up my trip with some shopping, and just plain ole relaxing vacationing. It was a great trip, and so good to be back home.

Great Life

A couple of weeks ago, I completed Part two of my Great Life training. It was such a great opportunity to reconnect with my true self. Sometimes its hard to look yourself square in the face, so to speak, see all of your flaws and baggage, and then overcome it. The benefits, though, are beyond comparison. This is what I learned about me:

I am a loving, powerful,
courageous woman!

Through my love and courage,
I create fun, joy and peace!!

A funny story: For dinner our last night (and this is us dressed in our magnificence), we went to an outdoor mall called the Gateway and had dinner in the food court. It's amazing how much attention I received all dressed up! :) My favorite was the little girl who was about 4ish, saying to her mom "Look at the little girl. She's dressed like a princess!" My second favorite was the guy at Taco Time shouting across the food court: "Nice dress!!" He wasn't even being sarcastic! Usually, I shy away from such attention, but it was really fun, and I was able to have some really great conversations with perfect strangers. Everyone should try going to the mall in a formal!

ROAD TRIP!

As I alluded in my narrative of our trip to Washington DC, my dear friend Cristy got married! She is now Cristy Moreira. The big day was June 28 in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, and was definitely worth the road trip to be there. Eddie was so kind to join me so I wouldn't have to do all that driving on my own, but since he doesn't like to drive more than 6 hours at a time, we built many stops into our trip. We stayed the night with his Aunt Marilyn in Rigby, ID on the way up. We arrived Saturday with perfect timing and totally enjoyed the reception at a cute little park. Coeur D'Alene is BEAUTIFUL!! Eddie kept insisting that we weren't really in Idaho at all, but in Northern California. Actually, being 30 minutes from Spokane, we were much closer to being in Washington than California, but whatever. ;) There is an amazing lake there, complete with resort and boat rentals. I couldn't get enough of it, and have a new idea for a great family vacation spot.


After spending the night in Missoula, Montana, we were off to Yellowstone -- teachers on summer vacation can turn any road trip into a real vacation! That area of the country is amazingly beautiful!!! Mountain streams, cattle ranches, cool rock formations, etc. Yellowstone is great too. We didn't see the whole park by a long shot, but focused on Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser area. THAT is something everyone has to see once in their life! The Visitor's Center displays what time the geyser will go off and tell you to plan + or - 10 minutes. Old Faithful was just that, faithful, for us, though, bursting 100+ feet into the air right on time! Kind of crazy to think you are standing INSIDE an active volcano, but pretty much the whole park is just that. I also learned that you can fish inside a National Park ... who knew?? A couple of the pictures you'll see are of the sides of the caldera where you can see the remnants of the forest fire that burned much of the park in the 1980's. A ranger said that it sometimes takes 20+ years for the burned trees to fall over, and 80 or more years for them to decay. It was weird to see what looked like a bunch of match sticks laying all over the mountainside.



Another night at Marilyn's and then it was back to work. I've been working to get all of the library books at our school cataloged into the computer before we move everything to our new building ... which is next week.

Washington DC Trip

I have recently returned from my first official school trip (not counting Youth Conference)! We didn't lose anyone and only a couple had hints of heat exhaustion (they quickly recovered). I'd say it was a successful trip. :)

Here's a run down of the trip ... We took 7 adults and 16 students to Washington DC for a week. We left Salt Lake on a 6am flight, which means most of us slept all the way to Atlanta before we ran to our connection to DC. Arriving during a record heat wave, it was a kind of baptism by fire for these kids who are not used to humidity. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, had dinner, then headed out for a walk around the monuments. It is a 6 1/2 mile walk if you see all of the monuments (which we did, of course), and in 90+ degrees plus 90% humidity -- everyone learned the value of a water bottle and air conditioning. We got back to the hotel around 10:30pm, and everyone crashed into bed.

Monday morning, everyone awoke early in the morning so we could go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We began our day later than planned, though, as the car rental experience wasn't exactly smooth as silk. No worries, though, because we made excellent time (NO TRAFFIC!!) and were only 15 minutes late for our appointment with the National Park Rangers. Elsha had arranged for us to have official guides get in our car with us and tell us about the battle (and all the cool stories) as we drove. It was so cool, and totally worth the money!! It was my 4th trip to Gettysburg, and by far the best. After our tour and lunch, we went to the cemetery. We saw the unmarked graves. There was a somber mood. We felt the Spirit. We even took a picture on the very spot (or pretty close) where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address.

Tuesday, we were in uniforms!! It made it a little more uncomfortable than before, but I have to say that I felt a little spoiled in my skirt when I looked at all the guys in their long black pants and ties. We visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the changing of the guard. It was HOT!! But looking at the Marines in their wool uniforms where the only skin showing was their face suddenly made us all feel very cool. That is, all of us but one who almost passed out from the heat, because she hadn't been drinking enough water. After Arlington, we headed to Union Station for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the hubbub and a chance to sit and relax a bit. Our final stop on Tuesday was a tour of the United States Capitol Building. Even though I lived in DC for three years, I hadn't been to the actual Capitol since I was 13 so this was a fun tour for me too. Our Congressman was even in his office to greet us and take a picture ... usually they are too busy.


Wednesday was another fun filled day -- albeit a little less structured. In the morning, we got a semi-late start (we left around 9am) and headed for the International Spy Museum. If you've never been, it's a MUST SEE! The kids loved it, and I loved seeing James Bond's car ... the real one. It was also so fascinating to see the times in history where world orders literally rose and fell due to the efforts of 1 or 2 spies. So cool! After the spy museum, we all kind of split up and headed to the various Smithsonian museums. Most kids went with a teacher to the Zoo -- oh yeah, did I mention that the heat broke on this day so we weren't melting the whole time :) -- I went to the Museum of Natural History with a couple girls; and everyone else went to Air and Space. We made it back to the hotel around 5ish, and RELAXED for the rest of the evening. Well, I only relaxed until 8 or so when my dear friend Cristy Campbell came down and took me out for ice cream in Georgetown -- she's not Cristy CAMPBELL anymore but she was then, so I can still publish it. :)


Thursday. First, we were privileged to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Charta and other "Documents of Freedom" at the National Archives. It was quite impressive, though, as with most things in DC, the line to get in took longer to get through than actually looking at the documents did. After lunch, we got to go to the top of the Washington Monument. I had never done that before and it was so cool! Eddie and I went into the city early to get the tickets and learned a little trick -- if you are with a school, and have some ID or something to prove it -- they'll give you more than your 6 tickets per adult maximum. Two other cool bits of trivia learned at the Washington Monument. 1. You can see the LDS temple from the top. If you've never been to DC to know how amazing that is, the temple is in Maryland several miles away (I'm not good at guessing). 2. When the states sent in their stones to help complete the building several decades ago, Utah actually had to send in two. The first one they sent was of a beehive with honey bees and the word "Deseret" inscribed. I guess no one outside of Utah understood that, so they sent another stone explaining. It says something to the effect of "Deseret means honey bee. Utah." The Utah state symbol (and insect) is the honey bee representing the value of work. It's a word from the Book of Mormon (Ether 2:3).
Oh! I almost forgot!! On our way to the Washington Monument, we walked past the White House and took some pictures (which is the picture you see here). After the Washington Monument, we walked the short distance to the Holocaust Museum. Again, if you've never been, it's a must see -- but for a totally different reason than the Spy Museum. What an amazing monument to the people who suffered and saved others during the Holocaust. It's sobering to remember that the same sort of ethnic cleansing goes on today -- do we react the same way we did then??



Friday. Almost home. We got up at dawn to rent vans (much smoother experience this time) and drive the three hours to Williamsburg and Jamestown in Southern Virginia. It was great. We spend the morning at Jamestown, then drove the 15 minutes to Williamsburg. Once there, we split up, designated a meeting spot and time, and enjoyed traveling back to the late 1700's when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia. They even do live "reenactments" during the afternoon, so Eddie and I saw what it was like when the Declaration of Independence was first read in Virginia in July 1776. We also saw George Washington travel through town on his way the battle at Yorktown to rally support and more volunteers. It was really cool. Once we met up with everyone, it was a pleasant drive back to our hotel. I was amazed no one slept, but we actually still had energy! We got back around 10pm and settled down for our last night in DC.

Saturday (finally), we had a chance to see the things we hadn't seen yet in the morning. Some of us went to Old Town Alexandria, some to the Air and Space Museum, and others to the mall a block from our hotel. :) Then it was to the airport and on our way home ...

I wish that could be the end of this post, but alas, it's not. Seven of us, myself included, had a very hard time checking in. Once Elsha got there, we discovered that our tickets were for JULY 14th (which would mean I should still be in DC). The Delta employees at the counter were very nice, though, and we got to go home with everyone else. WHEW!!!

Time Travel

I'm going to try to go back in time and update this blog a little bit. I can't remember April much, so I'm just going back to May ... which was actually quite eventful.
First of all, in mid-May, I began my training with the Great Life Foundation here in Salt Lake. It's experiential training to help rid oneself of "baggage" and gain the tools to just live life to the fullest!! I've seen the fruits of it in the lives of many people around me here -- I've seen people go from various addictions and suicidal tendencies to living life with optimism, control, and love. It's quite amazing. My experience with Level One was intense but wonderful. I gained a larger "family" of 46 people with whom I shared the experience. It's amazing how close you can get to "strangers" in 4 days. I feel so much more in control of my life now, and while I'm not perfect yet, I look forward to moving on to Level Two in July and further tap into my own greatness. For more information, go to www.greatlifefoundation.com.

Immediately following Great Life, our school took all 7-12th graders to Aspen Grove for 2 1/2 days for Youth Conference. It was exhausting!! In the best ways possible, of course. Anytime you get 60 or so teenagers in one spot, there is bound to be drama, and this was no exception. We had a big conversation with the high school boys about what constitutes appropriate conversation and what doesn't. It seems to have had a big impact on several of these young men as well. It's so great to be at a school that sincerely cares about the students' spiritual health even more than their test scores and other such items that turn out to be of such little importance in the long run.
I added a picture or two of the trust walk we participated in. That was a really great experience. The student council tied string between trees to serve as a guide for the students. The route went through a very wide open path, but it wasn't without it's "dangers" in the form of undergrowth, fallen trees and the like. Normal stuff you would find hiking through any forest. The trust part came in when the students were blindfolded and sent up the path one by one with only the string to guide them. Oh! I forgot to mention that at a few spots, two strings would be tied to one tree -- one leading along the correct path, and the other would dead end somewhere in the undergrowth. At each juncture, a "tempter" would be there trying to get students to follow the dead end. Throughout the entire trail, there was also teachers and the entire student council to give assistance when needed. The blindfolded students were to follow the string the best they could, and if they felt lost or needed help, they were to kneel and raise their hand. Help was never that far away. Relating this experience to life, it was great to be reminded of a few simple facts.
1. No matter how many dead ends we try, we can always find our way back.
2. There will always be people trying to tempt us off the right path; we have to be vigilent.
3. There is quite a lot of unseen help waiting for us simply to ask.
4. The reward for completing the task is well worth it (in this case, it was BYU brownies -- YUM).
Aspen Grove is such a great place to go for family reunions or just vacations. It's minutes from Sundance Ski Resort; has great cabins and lodges (our lodges sleep 30+); has cafeteria service for larger groups (no cooking!); and has a myriad of fun activities -- mini golf, badmitton, tennis, basketball, shuffleboard, raquetball, volleyball, a playground, hiking, a little old-time village, etc.

Finally, at the end of May, the school year ended. We had a big Field Day for the last day of school which was really fun and quite a stress relief. Then, it was just pack, pack, pack as we are getting ready to move our school to a new building for next year. I don't know where we're going to put everything for the summer, but right now our gym is a great storage unit for hundreds of desks, chairs, filing cabinets, boxes, overhead projectors, whiteboards, etc. etc. etc. It's kind of crazy nowadays. We are so excited to be in a new building, though, that it's well worth it.

Spring Break

I'm at the tail end of a wonderful Spring Break. It's been quite nomadic, and a lot of fun! First, Eddie and I spent the night at his parents' house in Henderson, NV as a half way point to our real destination -- California. We went to Orange County to meet up with one of his friends from graduate school. Then, on Monday, the three of us headed north along the PCH to Hearst Castle and on to Monterey. Hearst Castle is amazing! There is this unbelievable view of the both the ocean and surrounding mountains. Everything is covered in green, and it's just beautiful. The Castle itself is beautiful, too. I still can't get over the fact that this man owned all of this art that ranged from hundreds to thousands of years old, and somehow made it into his house. The whole house was like an art museum, and to think of people living there and eating and everything else is just mind boggling to me. Check out the pictures!
About 4 miles north of Hearst Castle is a beach where Elephant Seals always come -- it's kind of like home base I guess. This time of year, there are a lot of babies, and it was cool to stop and take pictures on the way up and back. They kind up look like logs or something just lying there, but when they move around, it's really cool.
This whole trip was something out of National Geographic for me, because our next major even was whale watching outside of Monterey Bay. We saw lots of gray whales surfacing to breathe, and one even put his tail out of the water for the quintessential photo opportunity. Some people on our boat saw a humpback whale, but I was on the other side and missed it. :( Actually, once we got out into the ocean with the swells and such, I became very afraid. I didn't really want to go swimming that day in the Pacific. Seasickness wasn't a problem, but once I got comfortable somewhere, I didn't move much due to my fear. It subsided the more we were out there, but I still missed the humpback.
After our whale watching expedition, we walked down Cannery Row to the Aquarium. It was a cool, huge aquarium. I think my favorite parts were the jelly fish and the HUGE tanks where you could watch the animals swim (I could probably watch them all day if allowed). I took some cool pictures of jelly fish. I continue to be impressed with the capabilities of my relatively inexpensive little camera. If I may digress for a moment, I've fallen in love with my digital camera this week. What did we do before digital?!?! On the whale watching trip and on the drive down the coast, I just snapped pictures haphazardly hoping some would turn out. Several did, and I feel like I have better pictures than I otherwise would have had. Besides, now those pictures can be easily cropped, zoomed in, and shared with everyone in the world with just a couple of clicks. Again, what did we do before digital ...
Anyway, back to the trip. On our way out of Monterey on Wednesday, we drove through the 17-mile-drive in Pebble Beach and took pictures of the bay, the lone cypress tree, and lots of other scenic vistas. I'd never want to live somewhere as exclusive as Pebble Beach, but the views were spectacular. Continuing down the coast, I took more pictures of the views and seals, and we slept that night back in Orange County.
Thursday morning had Eddie and I up early again as the two of us headed down to San Diego. It was great to be able to shed jackets and actually need sunblock. :) First, we got my birth certificate so I can get a passport. Then, we decided to walk down to the shore and just take in the sights a bit. We "stumbled" upon the USS Midway and decided to take the tour. It is MASSIVE!!! I can't believe how huge and efficient those ships are. I loved going through level after level and room after room and imagining how our men and women live at sea. It's amazing.
After the USS Midway, we met Pete and Kristin Breinholt (Eddie's cousins) in Old Town, had lunch, walked around, and then headed to Point Loma and the lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument. It was an entertaining drive full of surprises, but we finally arrived, and loved the views, again, and the weather. From that Point, you can usually see the submarines and any carriers in dock at the base, but there was only one sub there that day, so that wasn't the most impressive part of the view. I can't begin to describe how beautiful it was, so you'll just have to look at my pictures and imagine it for yourself.
Finally, we went back to Pete and Kristin's to relax and have a yummy supper. Friday morning, I went to the BEAUTIFUL San Diego temple on our way back to Vegas to hang out with Eddie's family for the weekend. Our nomadic trip is basically over, and after sleeping almost 12 hours, I think I'm ready to go again. :)

Introduction

So, I'm living here in Utah and teaching. I always tell my mom how boring my life is, but then again, I am always so busy. I figured that there must be something going on in my life that people would want to know about. I make no guarantees about regular updates, but I will certainly try to update at least once a month. Perhaps this will help me take more pictures ... so far I haven't taken ANY since I've moved here!! Anyway, check once in a while and keep up with my crazy life. :)