LA 203 The contents of this volume originally appeared in American Education magazine (June 1974-August/September 1975), published by the U.S. Office of Education. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $5.95 (cloth) Stock No. 017-080-01541-2 IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS At the time they were affixing their names to it, the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence quite naturally felt that the most noteworthy of the four distinct elements of that remarkable document was its conclusion, wherein they formalized their awesome decision to "publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States...." The second most important section in their view, since they had learned the uses of propaganda, was the lengthy list of "injuries and usurpations" allegedly perpetrated by "the present King of Great Britain." Judging from discussions that took place prior to the climactic event, there was special interest also in the preamble and its reference to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," a proposition that John Adams had in particular championed. Which leaves the section immediately following the preamble, beginning with the ringing words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident. . . ." Today, as we celebrate the American Revolution Bicentennial, we would reverse this ranking. Independence is so well established as to be assumed, King George III has been superseded by more reliable bogeymen, and philosophers no longer are preoccupied by the "Laws of Nature," at least in the 18th century sense. Meanwhile the truths that the signers held to be self-evident turned out on the contrary to be an enduring inspiration to all mankind. Time has elevated the principles of the Revolution above the event itself, and the history of the United States has in essence been a record of what has been done toward affording all citizens the "unalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These concepts did not of course spring full bloom from Thomas Jefferson's imagination. They were part of the common currency of "Nature's Law," a contemporary theory which in fact was neither law nor a product of nature, but rather a dream to be fought for. A crucial element of this dream was the assertion that as rational creatures, possessing the God given capacity to learn and to reason, men also possessed the inherent right to select their own form of government and in general to determine their own fate. Reason, learning - what we now generalize as education - were, in short, crucial elements of the American Revolution, and the Bicentennial is thus an apt occasion on which to re-examine that aspect of our national life. Stimulation of such reexamination is the purpose of this publication. In it a number of distinguished observers provide appraisals of the past and present of education in the United States, as a starting point for considering how it may be strengthened in the future. As critics properly remind us, the great principles published and declared in 1776 are yet to be fully realized. Justice and equity sometimes seem elusive. The pursuit of learning and other forms and sources of happiness during the past two centuries has nonetheless been an uplifting and exhilarating story. L.V. GOODMAN Editorial Staff |