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.
Books open windows to the world and have the power to transform lives.
The book must of necessity be put into a bookcase. And the bookcase must be housed. And the house must be kept. And the library must be dusted, must be arranged, must be catalogued. What a vista of toil, yet not unhappy toil!
If you read all the time what other people have done, you will the think the way they thought.
Read a lot. Read broadly... Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored... Write a lot.
In reading, we are both scientists and poets.
If you teach a boy, you educate an individual; but if you teach a girl, you educate a community.
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