Column: Schools are investments, too
By Dr. Scott Walker
Dear Neighbors,
Ours will never be a perfect society. None of us will be perfect parents or perfect workers. Instead, we have rules and guidelines, standards, manners, tolerance and kindness to guide our interactions with others.
Some of us learn those rules in school: usually a public school, that encompasses the children of all who make up our dynamic community. Some children learn much more at home than is asked of them at schoo. To those parents, thank you!
Exactly because we all know someone who is not a great parent or role model, let us be thankful for our schools, a universal second chance for young people. We all learn how to get along and sometimes excel in a diverse, democratic society. But instead of acting like we’re grateful, we act as if schools were a necessary evil and force them to “get by on less.”
We can do better. Garrison Keillor used to describe Midwestern towns like ours by saying, “All the children are above average.” We would like to think that, but it’s not true. Are we all, as a society, going to accept the idea that those who aren’t above average should get swept under the rug? In order for the lower 50 percent to achieve their maximum potential, they deserve the extra time and attention that it might take, whether it’s a trained and skilled teacher. We need all our children to be at their best. I don’t believe we can afford to leave half behind. I hope, as parents and grandparents, you agree.
I suppose the arguments about caring for the less well off among us leave some people cold; after all, we’re talking about real money here. But, “If you think education is expensive, look at the cost of ignorance,” consider this: in order to retire, most people need an income in addition to their social security. Whether the investments that fund your retirement income are in the stock market, or in your land or home equity, you want the value of those investments to go up in your retirement, not down. If our local workers don’t capture the good jobs, if local farmers don’t manage their farms well, the value of local real estate will fall. If our nation’s workers can’t compete with workers from other developed countries, our stock markets will fall. If the students of today don’t receive an excellent education, the absolute best we can give them, then they will be the out-competed, lower wage workers, the second-tier business people, and the marginal farmers who don’t help your retirement investments to grow.
We all want our children to lead the world. We want them to be the best people, the best parents, and the best workers the world has ever seen. And success begets success. Turning out to show support for our public schools may persuade our Legislative majority party to open the purse strings for State funding of education, as required by our Constitution. Speak up!
