As this year ends I am thinking about a liberal education, which I believe in, and which has now, due to the cost of higher education, taken second fiddle to a vocational focus in education. Perhaps inevitable, but certainly unfortunate for the state of our society.
Several founding fathers saw a liberal education as a road to independence and liberty. P. IX
Jefferson believed in education, yet he was a blatant racist even for his times. We could spend the rest of our American history reading life talking about Jefferson, but enough is enough.
Was Jefferson wise or naive about the importance of an educated populace? Trump prefers the uneducated.
Jefferson's university was not for everybody: only for the most talented, with which I agree. P. 35
Yet his hypocrisy regarding race and gender is legendary. P. 35
Jefferson linked education to freedom, but if people of color, women, and natives were not to be citizens, they were not to be educated. P. 35
The best that can be said of Jefferson is that he was inconsistent. P. 35
Universities were to develop leaders, and for Jefferson woman were entirely domestic, not political or business leaders. P. 36
His views on Native Americans were contradictory and not worth delving into in detail. P. 36-37
Jefferson believed in the eventual extermination of Native Americans. P. 37
In his Notes he called for an end of slavery yet was clear in asserting the intellectual inferiority of Africans. His Notes is totally embarrassing to modern readers P. 38
For me the importance of a liberal education is personal for personal satisfaction and a personal quality of life.
A liberal eduction requires, demands a lifetime of learning and self-improvement.
I am not sure how to appreciate and understand Emerson. P. 47
Emerson was the apostle of self-reliance. P. 48
Emerson stressed self-knowledge. Does everything worth knowing come thru self-knowledge? P. 48
Emerson thought that a liberal education should be transformational. Indeed, it has been so for me.. P. 54
Have the courage to trust yourself. (Emerson) P. 58
Jefferson and Emerson wrote from the point of view of the middle and upper classes. Booker T. Washington from the view of those who first needed to make a living before they could be liberally educated. P. 63
Does the Washington - DuBois debate have any relevance for today?
The Talented Tenth. (W.E. B Du Bois) P.68
There is more to life than the almighty dollar. (W.E.B. Du Bois) P. 69
The late 19th Century under German influence led to the university becoming research based. P. 74
Johns Hopkins opened its doors in 1876 strictly as a graduate school. P. 74
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