Excellent book whose principles adapt well to most any educational theories: Charlotte Mason, unschooling, classical education, even private and public (if the bureaucrats will let you get away with it). This book really helped to explain why I was so dissatisfied with my own education, and now I'm in the process of taking responsibility for it and fixing it.

The book provides helpful suggestions for teaching although most of the principles mentioned would be more useful to those homeschooling their children. That being said, there is still much to be gained by any person concerned with properly mentoring a student and/or class. DeMille maintains that there must be a foundational book for any nation. He is willing to embrace other religions and their beliefs as foundational for integrity and truth. As a Christian, he should understand that this is impossible if one believes in the Holy Bible. It is the only religion and is the only possible source for a true foundation since it is the only source of truth. He writes as if he is a Christian; hence my surprise in his compromise. My disappointment with Mr. DeMille is his rather lopsided reading of history. In suggested readings for adults, there is no real Southern voice in material regarding the War between the States. There was also an absence of material regarding World War I. Realizing he was only offering 100 books as his reading guide, it could be argued that he didn't have sufficient space for all aspects. That being said, he could have balanced better what he did suggest.

Very inspiring! Teaching children within the walls of your own home, through the bible and classics. Whether home schooling or for after school family time, it is a worthy read.

3.5 stars ~

Provides lots to think about for homeschooling parents.

Wow, there is so much to share with you about this amazing book - I don't want my review to be a novel, though. Read this book!!! It was very eye-opening about our current "conveyor-belt" educational system - how it tells us WHAT and WHEN to think, prepares us to get a job...but then what? We have degrees galore after years of so-called "education", but do we really know anything about how to lead? How to think creatively? How to keep our society free and prosperous?

DeMille, President & Founder of George Wythe College, states that in history, and today, there are 3 types of education: public, professional, and leadership. Leadership is the "Jefferson Education" DeMille addresses - learning from reading the classics and having a great teacher/mentor that inspires the student to learn and think on their own. Public education tells everyone what to think, professional education creates specialists and tells them when to think, but leadership education tells us HOW to think. Thomas Jefferson was educated this way (by his mentor George Wythe), as well as other great statesmen such as Washington, Madison, Lincoln and Churchill, to name a few. DeMille tells you how to do this and why this type of education is more beneficial to students and society as a whole than any other education.

I LOVED this book and want to purchase my own, which I don't do unless I know I'll read it more than a couple of times. And it's a quick read - took me less than a day. DeMille lists classics in the back of the book to start with younger children. I don't think this would completely convince me to homeschool my children, but I want them to know of and learn from the great works of great people and learn how to apply them in their lives. Also, it was very fitting to read this after finishing Reading Lolita in Tehran, where those women in Iran did exactly that with the classics.

This book literally changed my entire perspective on what an "education" can really mean and how as a parent I can create a passion for learning and knowledge in my children.

I'm always looking for new ideas and material related to education, both my own and others (as I taught at university, coached high school sports, and am a part-time speaker). I chose A Thomas Jefferson Education because of my interest in Jefferson, having no knowledge of the author or TJed.

I'm not reviewing the author or TJed. I'm only reviewing the book, which raised several salient points about education and the importance of classics and mentor teachers. That said, I found some of the ideas in A Thomas Jefferson Education interesting and worth exploring, including the idea of countries having a sense of themselves as a nation based on literature, e.g. Shakespeare for England, Tolstoy for Russia, etc. There is some truth to the idea, and we may have neglected some of our treasured national texts, including The Declaration of Independence and what it means.

Overall, I found the book to be an inspiring piece of work, something most teacher mentors can get behind with some relatively minor adjustments in its application (because we've moved so far away from these principles). Specifically, we need to recognize that the United States is a massive nation (spanning a geography the size of Europe) and may require some regional and local adjustments to make it work. It would probably work better to introduce classics and contemporary literature into classrooms and make specific classic titles more accessible by matching them to readers based on age and ability. Then, someone could develop a recommendation tree that helps students move from more easily digestible classics to more challenging ones. (It seems that the order in which one is exposed to classics can make a huge difference in how well they receive them.) In addition, more neo-classics (like Dune) and diverse titles (Lorraine Hansberry, Zora Neale Hurston) deserve their place.

Still, none of this diminishes the book, which presents a worthwhile foundation that any educator can work from to develop something even better, especially among mentor teachers hoping to break the downward educational spiral we've seen occur over the past few decades (as a whole, not necessarily as an individual educator's work). In fact, I wish this book existed when I was providing my own children an augmented education because I was not satisfied with the material they were covering in a public school or in a charter school. Simply put, I wanted to teach my children how to think, not what to think. And it is this idea more than any other DeMille drives home.

Wow, so many good ideas and such an interesting perspective. I’m a pick what I like and leave the rest kind of person so it doesn’t bother me that there are some things I might not use with my family. Just an overall helpful, interesting, worldview changing book.

**Update**
Re-reading to help a friend with an assignment for a class she's taking. We'll see if I like it any better this time around...

Well, I can't say I like it any better - the 2-star rating isn't changing - but the discussion was productive and I enjoyed hearing from others on their perspectives. It also seems to me that those who put TJEd into practice actually address several of my concerns and objections by customizing their education (or their children's education) to not include those aspects. This, however, is a review of the book itself, which I find lacking, rather than the whole educational approach, which I think has promise.

First, the good: I find the basis of classical education - classics and mentors - very appealing. I used that framework while I was homeschooling my son, continue using it for supplementing his current public school education, and will most likely use it should we ever homeschool again. I like the emphasis on primary sources ("read the originals, draw your own conclusions and encourage your students to do likewise," Mr. DeMille says). The focus on language skills of reading, writing, and speaking/debating clearly is vital. And I appreciate the approach's almost infinite ability to be customized for individuals. However, I have to note that none of that is unique to TJEd.

Compared to, say, Susan Wise Bauer's A Well-Trained Mind, this book provides very little that is actionable and useful on a day-to-day basis. There are an awful lot of sweeping statements reflecting DeMille's worldview, geared toward persuading you to agree with his ideology, but aside from some lists in the appendices (which have their own issues), there's really not much to get a hold of. Until you go buy some of his other books or attend his seminars or classes, that is. Using A Thomas Jefferson Education as a "hook" to reach your target audience is a great marketing strategy, but I don't find the book in and of itself to be helpful on an applicable level.

I found the alarmist rhetoric throughout A Thomas Jefferson Education very off-putting. My eyes rolled involuntarily at the overly dramatic vignettes. The enthusiastic five-year-old who has all the creativity crushed out of him by the end of kindergarten, while it may be representative of some experiences, was frankly insulting to the many wonderful kindergarten teachers I know. And the scene towards the end where Mr. DeMille describes his vision of some dark day in the future was just about the straw that broke this camel's back. A vote is being taken on the floor of Congress - some terrible bill is about to be passed that will mean the end of liberty as we know it - "how could this happen?" the viewer laments! And then a lone voice of reason in the personage of a young Congressman in the back, quietly, but firmly, says "No" and then passionately, single-handedly, persuades all of Congress to reverse their votes to maintain which ever liberty was on the brink of being lost. Um...congressional procedure doesn't really work that way... And since I am a fairly skeptical person by nature, such questionable rhetoric clearly designed to prey on my emotions - particularly fear - tends to make me even more skeptical of your point of view. Treat me like an adult, please. Present your case on the merits and I'll evaluate it logically. Don't try to sway me with scare tactics or fear-mongering; it just weakens your argument.

(Sidenote: Any list of 100 classics that includes three books by Cleon Skousen can generously be described as skewed. Seriously, the only other authors with three books on the list were Aristotle and C.S. Lewis - unless you count the complete works of Shakespeare. Skousen may be an articulate defender of a certain worldview, but Aristotle, he is not!)

On to the Seven Keys... Mr. DeMille sets up an "either-or" scenario with each of these keys, with the first option being the superior one. You can have Classics OR Textbooks. You can Inspire OR Require. You can Structure Time OR Content. I disagree. It seems to me that there is a place for both classics and quality textbooks in a good, well-rounded education. While it is, of course, important to inspire students to learn on their own, it's impossible to truly gauge that learning is taking place without requiring something of the students. Interestingly, though the book seems to set up a strict "either-or" dichotomy, those I spoke with last night who are using this approach in their homeschooling mostly use a combination rather than an all-or-nothing approach. For example, one mother described how they have a set time for "school" each day, and the kids can choose what they want to study during that time...as long as they spend at least 45 minutes on math. One could argue that that is Mr. DeMille's intent, but I found the book to be unclear on that, providing a stark "black-and-white" description rather than allowing for any gray or nuance.

Finally, I think it odd that this 140-page book has less than four full pages of endnotes. As I mentioned earlier, not much here is brand-spankin'-new, but there is little attribution to others. And I was more than a bit surprised that he used Fawn Brodie as a source at one point; most LDS have a fairly low opinion of her work in light of her unflattering biography on Joseph Smith. Overall, I simply find the lack of documentation puzzling and inconsistent with his stated philosophy, especially in light of his focus on classics and primary sources.

To sum up my objections to the book, I find A Thomas Jefferson Education too vague to be of practical use and too alarmist and overly dramatic (with an ultraconservative undertone) to maintain credibility with me. It also seems to set up what I consider to be false dichotomies with its Seven Keys. The book doesn't really provide much that's "new" in the sense of advocating for a classical education, but is remarkably short on endnotes and documention.

**End Update**

(April 2011 - first reading)
I'm afraid that I was less than impressed with Mr. DeMille's book. Since we started on this homeschooling adventure a few months ago, I've read dozens of books about the philosophy of education, different methods of homeschooling, and classical education in particular. Mr. DeMille doesn't come up with much that's new. He slightly reframes the discussion in a way that is obviously heavily influenced by his mentor Cleon Skousen and tips over into the melodramatic a bit too frequently for my tastes.

The emphasis on using the classics as the basis for education and relying on mentors to help direct the student's learning is solid, as is his assertion that students need to be inspired so they will be motivated to study without compulsion. But there are hoops that do need to be jumped through in order to have credibility in our society, regardless of how complete and thorough one's (self-)education may be.

Quite a few questionable statements are made with no backup documentation. The fuzziness of his educational credentials give me pause, as well. And I find his reticence to be forthcoming about his LDS faith a bit disingenuous.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

Fascinating. Finished this feeling so inspired for myself and for my kids. No, I don’t think I will use Archimedes to study math with my kids, but I want to make a much greater effort to use the classics as a base for language arts study, writing, debate and discussion, and critical thinking. I loved his question about national books - England had Shakespeare, Italy had Machiavelli, Russia had Tolstoy, Germany had Luther…what would America’s national book be? Do we give the classics enough time and effort to even have a say in the decision? I know I haven’t, but I want to turn that around. The power of reading the classics leads to great leaders, greater thinkers, greater writers, greater communicators, because we are learning from some of the best in those areas. They’re classics for a reason. Easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely. The feelings I had after finishing The Count of Monte Cristo or The Pickwick Papers verses the fun and quick novels I tend to stick in between…no comparison. Nothing wrong with those fun and quick romances or mysteries, but they always leave me wanting. I’m not satisfied. This book underlined my feelings and spotlighted why the satisfaction just isn’t the same.

Quotes like these sum up this book:
"No education is complete, or even particularly valuable, unless the student uses what he or she has learned to serve the community, family, society and God." ~DeMille
"The goal is not, as Neal A. Maxwell put it, to get through the book, but rather to get the book through you." ~DeMille
"By the methods we may learn wisdom. First, by reflection, which is the noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest." ~Confucius

This book was lent to me by a friend after several heated lunch discussions where I got on my soapbox about education. DeMille argues that our education today is designed to give everyone basic skills, and no one great skills. If we want great leaders, we have to give out children what our great leaders of the past have had; an education rooted in classic literature covering a variety of subjects.

The bad: I really don't like the way deMille swears he isn't endorsing any particular religion or educational system, yet repeatedly touts the importance of the Bible and the benefits of home schooling. He points out that public schools were designed to train the poor, and it's not okay for everyone to receive such an education. The whole book is written with a very elitist tone that makes me think I would probably not enjoy being in a room with this man.

The good: My friend was right, I loved this book. This is the model I have argued with my principal, and I had no idea a model really existed. My students have been most successful when they have read, studied, and discussed real literature and had less of a focus on activities to teach isolated skills. Using real literature and real research and real people is much more motivating for students than text books with snippets of stories and information. I've also argued that our kids miss so much because they don't read the same things we did (or that I did) and that I have seen kids change behaviors and attitudes after reading and digesting books like the Little House series or Island of the Blue Dolphin.

The bottom line is that I'm going to have to purchase my own copy of this book. The author may have come across as an elitist prick, but I agree with his overall message. I want to be a mentor teacher, and the resources and book lists he provides are titles I'll want to look for.