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.