John Ragosta is a historian and lawyer who has published extensively in both legal and historical journals in the areas of early American history, constitutional law and international relations. He practiced international trade law and litigation for 20 years in Washington DC and has taught at the George Washington University School of Law and the University of Virginia history department and law school. In addition, he has a degree in physics-chemistry and is a beekeeper.

Looking Down from the Mountaintop

Thomas Jefferson taught that for our country to be free, the people must be educated. Thomas Jefferson taught that for the people to be educated, our country must be free.

As we try to reimagine education for the twenty-first century – more vibrant, more expansive, more effectively reaching people – one of the most important tasks is to decide what must be kept and what must be swept away. Rather than warn platitudes, Jefferson’s thinking about education holds vital messages for modern educators struggling with classes that are too large, budgets that are too small and expectations that are sky-high. With Jefferson’s Monticello sitting on the small mountain looking down on the location for the EduStat Conference, it may make sense to ask what this distinctly eighteenth century man might advise for reimagining education.