Many object to paying for public schools because they have no child of their own to benefit. Did they not go to school? At no cost to them? Who paid for their education? Their parents and neighbors who paid school tax. You pay for your neighbor’s children’s education so that when they make change for you next year, they will know how. In the future, will they be able to fix your car, or fly your jetliner?
We pay collectively to educate children and youth to provide better service to us all when we need it.
America did not win freedom from King George III with soldiers that could not count. We did not win World War II with soldiers who could not understand an Army manual, and we did not go to the moon without engineers, mostly educated at public institutions.
Everything we do in a modern culture needs people who can perform science-based tasks from truck farming to rocket science. By the way, rocket scientist is a silly name for engineers that create rockets. Scientists study what is, engineers use that science to create what was not. The people who make it work are technicians.
Public education is the key to having a broadly educated young generation ready to step up to tasks that our predecessors never contemplated. Following in your parent’s footsteps is no longer adequate. Those who only teach what they were taught are depriving their pupils of the latest information. Old knowledge is no longer adequate, often wrong.
There is virtually no vocation today that does not require some high school education and the ability to learn or figure out new things. To deny that to the poor is to deny ourselves the skilled people to provide for our own future needs.
There is pressure to privatize all education, but it is difficult for private education to meet all the needs of every society. After the Civil War, southern states eschewed public education. The rich, white landowners established private schools, and the emancipated Blacks and poor whites were left uneducated and exploitable. Many northern communities had some sort of free public education.
California, for example, apportions precollege education money equally on a per-pupil basis statewide. That sounds fair, but affluent neighborhoods subsidize their local schools; many students attend private schools. It does not matter ultimately who educates whom, as long as every pupil is enabled to maximize their success and potential.
Not only do schools need to provide education for the future, they need to be accessible and sociable. What is in the textbooks, or today’s source material, is only half the education. Pupils must also learn the social skills to get along not just with their peers, but everyone else, too. The socialite who can only communicate with other socialites may feel totally overwhelmed dealing with a police officer, a judge, an auto mechanic or even her jeweler.
It’s not listed on the curriculum, but a big part of education is critical thinking. The ability to analyze a thought or new idea to determine if it is credible or at least logical.
It is worthwhile to be able to entertain two contradictory thoughts at the same time and understand the relationship. The ability to recognize deceit. We say put two and two together. Much political speech (like religious speech) is self-contradictory. It is a valuable ability to recognize a contradiction and resolve it or discount it, and recognize the right context to make sense.
Science has questions that may not be answered — critical thinking. Religion often has answers that may not be questioned — blind faith; accepting the first version of a factoid as the ultimate truth. Unfortunately, much education is still by rote; recite approved answers to standardized questions.
The rich can afford to have their offspring spend much of their life in school, often in high-priced private school where they learn critical thinking along with the 3Rs, etc. Poor children often have to quit school early so they can contribute to the family or their own independence. Many poor people do not have access to free public education, so they are condemned to low pay and little influence.
Free public education began in Boston, Mass., in 1635. First Pennsylvania Constitution in 1776, called for the state legislature to establish at least one school in every county, but this was never enacted or enforced. Making decent education available to all began with Brown vs. Board of Education in 1952, but there are still gaps.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer and safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for 91直播. Feedback is encouraged at obenskik@gmail.com.
