The Senate Education Committee meets Wednesday to hear about chronic student absenteeism and tune into our lunch & learn presentation on Friday about a "Yes, and..." approach to education policy.
Thanks, Loki! You might want to share this speech by Ulysses S. Grant in 1875 with fellow legislators who are reluctant to fund education in Alaska at necessary levels:
I encourage you to support overriding the veto of educational funding by our Governor.This speech by Ulysses S. Grant in Iowa in 1875 provides some "ammunition" for your discussions:
I do not bring into this assemblage politics, certainly not partisan politics, but it is a fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to consider what may be necessary to secure the prize for which they battled in a republic like ours. Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence.
The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.
Now in this centennial year of our national existence, I believe it a good time to begin the work of strengthening the foundation of the house commenced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years ago, at Concord and Lexington. Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion.
Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that the State or Nation, or both combined, shall furnish to every child growing up in the land, the means of acquiring a good common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate. With these safeguards, I believe the battles which created the Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought in vain.
A bit of personal history: My parents thought private Christian education was important and sent me and my sister to a private Christian school. They opposed any support from the government, thinking it might reroute funds for public education ( my Dad taught in a public high school) and come with possible state control.
Thanks, Loki! You might want to share this speech by Ulysses S. Grant in 1875 with fellow legislators who are reluctant to fund education in Alaska at necessary levels:
I encourage you to support overriding the veto of educational funding by our Governor.This speech by Ulysses S. Grant in Iowa in 1875 provides some "ammunition" for your discussions:
I do not bring into this assemblage politics, certainly not partisan politics, but it is a fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to consider what may be necessary to secure the prize for which they battled in a republic like ours. Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence.
The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.
Now in this centennial year of our national existence, I believe it a good time to begin the work of strengthening the foundation of the house commenced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years ago, at Concord and Lexington. Let us all labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion.
Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that the State or Nation, or both combined, shall furnish to every child growing up in the land, the means of acquiring a good common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate. With these safeguards, I believe the battles which created the Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought in vain.
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/...
A bit of personal history: My parents thought private Christian education was important and sent me and my sister to a private Christian school. They opposed any support from the government, thinking it might reroute funds for public education ( my Dad taught in a public high school) and come with possible state control.
I wish you well in this legislative session.
Sincerely,
Jon R. Sharpe
Thanks Jon. Oddly, there are parts of the above speech that remind me of the essay by Dr. King, Jr on the purpose of education.
Thank you for sharing!