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Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe deposito-ries.... An amendment of our constitution must here come in aid of the public education. The influence over government must be shared among all the people. If every individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting the whole mass will exceed any private resources of wealth...

Thomas Jefferson's vision of public education as a custodian democracy survives at the core of what most Americans belie about public schools. Most of us were educated in public schoo We believe that public schools provide the best opportunity for m Americans to learn the skills and responsibilities of citizenship attack on public schools is often viewed as an attack on democr