Education: Part three-Building a life-long continuum

When we look back at this administration's ambitious agenda, we'll compare it to another president who took on the task of improving education for all children. Not
George W. Bush, though, in his own way, he did attempt to get us to focus on children with a lovely motto. I was thinking of President Johnson, his war on poverty, his attempt with various educational acts, Title I comes to mind, to level the playing field. I became a teacher way back in the sixties, when money from Title I financed our first summer school for poor readers.

There are so many fields where we educate our youth, that just understanding what's going on will take many experts and many dissertations. Any one issue, can splinter the conversation and send us all to sulk away in our corners. I hope we can think this through critically and lovingly. We have great examples to draw from, to help us see the full picture.

Our mission should be to educate people throughout their lives, pre-school to death. Our compulsory education stops at the 12th grade, or age eighteen, whichever comes first. Our post secondary education has become expensive and not easily available for those children in rural areas.


Through education, people will appreciate and utilize their many potentials, will make ethical and moral choices in their financial, personal and career choices, will become active participants in a law abiding society, and will protect the environment, their health, and the welfare of all people.

In the past few years, here in the United States, political chatter has derailed our mission. We have pitted religious thought when it was convenient to win an election, and ignored the same when the economic collapse of banks and financial assets froze us solid. People all have the same basic needs to have a safe and secure life, free to pursue their dreams and utilize their potential.

So, we need to bring the conversation back to the table and lay down some premises we can all accept:

1. To assure access for all: education is and shall remain the responsibility of government, paid entirely through common funding.
2. To ensure fairness and quality programs: families should be given choices of schools/location/ and configurations; they should not be allowed to opt out. ( I have very good friends who would be very upset with me on this one.)
3. To promote active participation: families should be partners with schools, with mutual contracts of understanding, support and assessment.
4. To develop support and cooperation: schools, families, students, community, employers, all share the burden of continuing to support educational opportunities.

5. To instill commitment: taxes and levies will support education, not just in one state or one county, but equal base of support for each child no matter where he is.

Local communities/board of education, must align their goals and mission to the nation's goals and mission; yet, and in addition, they must understand and promote local values, history and expectations. In a community such as Port Orford, our arts community is so active in schools that they automatically make this a goal in our schools.

I don't have a ready made agenda; these thoughts have been brewing for a while. They are probably in need of pruning, fertilizing, tilling under. What do you think?