No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of religious neutrality in public education.
Thomas Jefferson's quote underscores the principle that public schools should not favor or impose any particular religion on students. It reflects the belief in maintaining a separation between church and state, ensuring that education is inclusive and respects the diverse beliefs of all students. This idea supports the notion that education should be a space where individuals can learn without religious bias or coercion, fostering a more tolerant and understanding society.
In practice
This quote could be referenced in a discussion about the role of religion in public schools during a school board meeting.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.
We want the world our children inherit to be defined by the values enshrined in the U.N. Charter: peace, justice, respect, human rights, tolerance, and solidarity.
Learning, while at school, that the charge for the education of girls was the same as that for boys, and that, when they became teachers, women received only half as much as men for their services, the injustice of this distinction was so apparent.
What's done to children, they will do to society.
Our Creator expects His children everywhere to educate themselves.
Don't be an examiner, be the interested inquirer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.