You probably wouldn't guess it by looking at me, his oldest son, but he was very good at what he did and he loved doing it. I think I have my appreciation for learning and admiration for those who teach as an integral part of my genetic inheritance thanks to him (as well as my visceral dislike of bullies and phonies; though my distrust of most other people on the face of the earth is more likely my own invention).
He introduced me to a quote I've referenced before from Sydney J. Harris, a columnist for the Chicago Daily News and later the Chicago Sun-Times, “the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
This Friday we have an opportunity to convert windows into doors and gateways to a possible future for the education of our children with what's listed on the city's website as an "Ad Hoc Committee" meeting of the City Council and the Board of Education, at Kelly STEAM Middle Magnet School, starting at six in the evening. You just re-read that sentence and may have yawned or shrugged or both but you should put the meeting on your calendar and plan on being there.
There's a tendency, unless you have children in the Norwich Public Schools, to only pay attention to education at municipal budget hearings when we all become experts on costs and expenses, usually with little to no knowledge or expertise.
You don't think so? Think again. This is us: every year we look at the Board of Education’s budget submission to the City Council and start shouting ‘no’ before the first digit in the total figure is even said. This year, if you hadn't heard already, the initial budget request is for about 11% more money than last year.
Don't start breathing into paper bags, yet. It's a request, which is a place to start the discussion and Friday's meeting with some members from both the Board of Education and the City Council will, I hope, start to refine and define that discussion because we've been kicking the can down the road for years on funding our schools and the time for talk is over and the time to act is now.
We've been tossing what we've called 'nice to have' curriculum items like music, art, and sports over the side as budget reductions for at least a decade (or longer) to fund 'essentials.' And then we've told ourselves we can purchase English Language Arts, reading or enhanced competence in math and science, and the talents and technologies to better teach them as if we were buying ground beef by the pound.
But none of it works that way, especially in a competitive global market where failing to prepare is preparing to fail and our children start at a disadvantage they cannot overcome by themselves. There's more to education than preparation for colleges and careers. Like I said earlier, I'm probably a little biased but if you think education is expensive, wait until you see the cost of ignorance.
For those who'd like to believe the schools our children attend aren't all that different from when we were there when was the last time you tried to help your child do homework? And how successful were you at it? Yeah, it's quite eye-opening what's going on in the classroom these days and it's harder and harder to keep up.
Public school education is a shared frame of reference, the thread that joins us to one another in creating the fabric of our country. Each of us has a stake in the successful tomorrow that public education is critical in creating for each school-age child to live and work in.
When our children succeed, we succeed. In the global marketplace, fortune favors the fleet and agile; public education is the key to unlocking the promise of better days.
Alvin Toffler, the author of Future Shock, captured perfectly the importance and criticality of life-long learning “(T)he illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”
Friday night at six in Kelly STEAM Middle Magnet School. Be there. It’s important.
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