My subject on this Independence Day morning is the schools, our public schools. The history of the 233 years and more of the United States of America can be seen in many critical ways in the history of our public schools.
In the beginning, not surprisingly, Thomas Jefferson had a grand plan. It was for a comprehensive American school system. It was to guarantee mass literacy for all citizens—although admittedly only white citizens. Second, also it was to guarantee that all children, whatever their background, could get higher education so as to ascend to leadership for the new country.