A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille

A Thomas Jefferson Education

 by Oliver DeMille

A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century

Sep 1, 2009

by Oliver DeMille

I don't remember who said: "It's not what you read, but what you re-read", but it is so true for me personally.  I'm re-reading A Thomas Jefferson Education, for at least the third time!  I really try to have Dd and I read as many GREAT books as I can, and leave out as much 'twaddle' (meaningless books) as I can, so we can really get to know as many great personalities as possible, as deeply as possible.  I remember in college, one of my greatest moments was when I finally won one of the awards my philosophy teacher would give---the "if I were any smarter, I would be ****** award".  We studied one philosopher after another, and at the end of studying each man we had to write a big paper on him, and then our teacher would pick one student whose paper best reflected the attitude and opinion of said philosopher.  The point was to really, really get to know the subject so well that we would know exactly how he would react in various situations.  Which brings me back to A Thomas Jefferson Education, page 48, the second paragraph:

"There is a powerful scene in the Star Trek movie First Contact where Captain Picard is about to make a fatal mistake, and another character says something like, "Okay, Ahab, you go right ahead."  That changes the whole paradigm for him.  "Ahab."  He realizes, "I am Ahab, " and he starts quoting Melville, and changes his mind.  The stories we associate ourselves with, whether of Moses or Hamlet or Anne of Green Gables, become powerful in our lives; and when the time comes to make touch decisions, we fall back on them in order to decide."

That last bit, about "when the time comes to make touch decisions, we fall back on them in order to decide." is so true.  There are so many bad role models, or weak thoughts we have, that it is so important to read about people that have chosen the road less traveled, the much harder, tougher, rougher roads in life instead of the easy path that most people chose.  It is so hard to articulate to our children how to grow wise, with discernment, but by reading great books, through a process of osmosis those morals and integrity saturate without lectures.

The reason to read great books, as often as possible, isn't to build a great education, but to create an environment conducive to growth in character for our children, and ourselves too; as we definitely pick up many lessons in these books that our children miss their first time through the material.


Another idea from this book is having both student and teacher keep a "Commonplace Book", that is used as an educational journal documenting what main things you've learned were.  You can list main ideas or new concepts in your entry.  Discussions about the material could be discussed after seeing what was written.

For younger children, the parent would offer to write down the ideas for the student.

The objective would not be using this journal writing as a writing lesson, but as a place to write ideas---focusing on the content.

To Be Continued....

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