Education has proven to be one of the most important aspects of running a democracy. Thinkers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both believed that the citizens should be properly educated onabout what is going on in the government. Thomas Jefferson believed in giving the people all of the information they need to make the right choices. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is in their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them” (Jefferson, 212). Everyone should have access to the same information because transparency allows for unbiased opinions. The people should be informed about as much as possible because when it comes down to decision making, people will want to make the right decisions by others if they have all the information. The fear of the unknown often drives blind decision making that isn’t always in our best interest.
John Adams believed similarly about educating people, but that the government should open up every aspect of themselvesitself so that people could speculate and make amends. “… It“It opens a passage for every speculation to the legislature, to administration, and to the public; it gives a universal energy to the human character, in every part of the state, such as never can be obtained in a monarchy” (Adams, 146). Adams is talking about another assembly voted in by the people that would give free access to citizens everywhere so that they may choose who they do and don’t want running their government. Because the people have chosen, they can choose who educates them and they can choose people who will be completely transparent with them and awardreward them with the knowledge they seek.