OK, so here is a response I gave to an email sent to me. I posted it on Facebook at the urging of friends and now post it here, for whatever its worth.
As I follow
the budget and curriculum discussions in RSU#18, I am reminded of the ongoing
argument that is at the heart of education. When all the emotion, false claims,
misused or erroneous data is stripped away we are left with one question:
What is education worth to us?
Let’s all be very clear about a few words and definitions here.
We - Everyone living in RSU18 and in fact the State. Every single individual has a vested interest in the education of the present and future generations. It is not just parents but all residents. The idea that not having any person you care about involved in these decisions means you are removed for the situation and consequences is myopic at best. Every citizen has a stake in an educated work force. Every service provider, medical provider, first responder, educator is a product of the very system that is at stake. No one is ‘disconnected’ from the education of children.
Worth - If you can even put a price on knowledge, in whose interest is it to provide less knowledge or remove knowledge? The children? Parents? The community? How does having less resources, less opportunity to learn and grow, less choices improve the acquisition and retention of knowledge? If knowledge is power then we seem to be intending to render the next two to three generations powerless. Do we really want our rising students to not be able to compete in the modern work place? Do we really want an entire generation of semi to unskilled workers competing for low to minimum wage jobs and eventually ending up in State benefit programs while skilled, high paying jobs go unfilled? I certainly do not but it appears that there are many members of the District that either don’t care or are willing to make that decision in the mistaken belief that it will not affect them.
Education – “Menes Sana et Corpra Sano” – A sound mind in a sound body. Everything contributes to the product (i.e. an educated student) that is produced by our system. Here is the future that is being proposed. Half of the District buildings are closed because the cost of maintaining them is too high. The entire student body for the District is crammed into the remaining buildings. There are no more co-curricular activities, no band, no chorus, no drama, no sports; they were too expensive, were ‘temporarily’ taken out and never restored. That’s OK though because now we can use the gym and PAC for lecture hall style classes of 50 or more students. We are now scratching our head to try and figure out why our testing numbers continue to drop, why our dropout rate is increasing and why more and more of our seniors can’t get into college. And in the end, we are wondering why it is harder and harder to get good service and anyone that is competent in their jobs. Ridiculous you say? Then why is the United States 20th or lower among all developed countries in all educational measures? Because we continue to devote less and less of our GNP to education compared to those countries. They value education more than we do.
Everything that is removed because it is ‘too expensive’ translates directly to a bottom line of even greater expense in the near term and future. EVERYONE is feeling the effects of a tight national economy; we all to a great or lesser degree have a ‘fixed’ income. We all have multiple demands on our resources. For me, there is no price too great for knowledge and I am willing to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of my children just as my parents and grandparents did.
My family has lived in the District for 40 years. I am a product of this District just as my children will be. These arguments are not new but the lack of precision in statements and personalized nature is new and counter-productive. In that time, I have never seen these communities so polarized or at odds over education, and that is very disheartening. I could go on at length debunking the wide variety of poorly thought out or just plain misguided rhetoric around this issue but in the end it is very simple.
Berating the Superintendent, the School Board or even the Town Selectmen is a fool’s game. All these people are public servants, YOUR public servants. Getting mad at them for the job you asked them to do is ridiculous. We all said to these people, “We don’t have the time or knowledge to make these financial decisions so we want you to do it for us and give us your recommendations”. This is what they have done. Now, it’s up to the voting residents of all the District towns to approve or disapprove of the RECOMMENDED budget.
It is not their final decision but our. I for one believe that each has admirably discharged the duty we gave them and now it is up to us to decide. For those who disagree and/or do not like what is recommend; go to the polls and vote NO. If you agree and like the work done, go to the polls and vote YES.
It really is that simple. And I will be voting YES.
Thank you Superintendent Smith and School Board/Budget Committee members, I for one appreciate the work that you have done and the due diligence you have exercised to include as many people as possible in the process.
John DeWitt
Sidney Resident
What is education worth to us?
Let’s all be very clear about a few words and definitions here.
We - Everyone living in RSU18 and in fact the State. Every single individual has a vested interest in the education of the present and future generations. It is not just parents but all residents. The idea that not having any person you care about involved in these decisions means you are removed for the situation and consequences is myopic at best. Every citizen has a stake in an educated work force. Every service provider, medical provider, first responder, educator is a product of the very system that is at stake. No one is ‘disconnected’ from the education of children.
Worth - If you can even put a price on knowledge, in whose interest is it to provide less knowledge or remove knowledge? The children? Parents? The community? How does having less resources, less opportunity to learn and grow, less choices improve the acquisition and retention of knowledge? If knowledge is power then we seem to be intending to render the next two to three generations powerless. Do we really want our rising students to not be able to compete in the modern work place? Do we really want an entire generation of semi to unskilled workers competing for low to minimum wage jobs and eventually ending up in State benefit programs while skilled, high paying jobs go unfilled? I certainly do not but it appears that there are many members of the District that either don’t care or are willing to make that decision in the mistaken belief that it will not affect them.
Education – “Menes Sana et Corpra Sano” – A sound mind in a sound body. Everything contributes to the product (i.e. an educated student) that is produced by our system. Here is the future that is being proposed. Half of the District buildings are closed because the cost of maintaining them is too high. The entire student body for the District is crammed into the remaining buildings. There are no more co-curricular activities, no band, no chorus, no drama, no sports; they were too expensive, were ‘temporarily’ taken out and never restored. That’s OK though because now we can use the gym and PAC for lecture hall style classes of 50 or more students. We are now scratching our head to try and figure out why our testing numbers continue to drop, why our dropout rate is increasing and why more and more of our seniors can’t get into college. And in the end, we are wondering why it is harder and harder to get good service and anyone that is competent in their jobs. Ridiculous you say? Then why is the United States 20th or lower among all developed countries in all educational measures? Because we continue to devote less and less of our GNP to education compared to those countries. They value education more than we do.
Everything that is removed because it is ‘too expensive’ translates directly to a bottom line of even greater expense in the near term and future. EVERYONE is feeling the effects of a tight national economy; we all to a great or lesser degree have a ‘fixed’ income. We all have multiple demands on our resources. For me, there is no price too great for knowledge and I am willing to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of my children just as my parents and grandparents did.
My family has lived in the District for 40 years. I am a product of this District just as my children will be. These arguments are not new but the lack of precision in statements and personalized nature is new and counter-productive. In that time, I have never seen these communities so polarized or at odds over education, and that is very disheartening. I could go on at length debunking the wide variety of poorly thought out or just plain misguided rhetoric around this issue but in the end it is very simple.
Berating the Superintendent, the School Board or even the Town Selectmen is a fool’s game. All these people are public servants, YOUR public servants. Getting mad at them for the job you asked them to do is ridiculous. We all said to these people, “We don’t have the time or knowledge to make these financial decisions so we want you to do it for us and give us your recommendations”. This is what they have done. Now, it’s up to the voting residents of all the District towns to approve or disapprove of the RECOMMENDED budget.
It is not their final decision but our. I for one believe that each has admirably discharged the duty we gave them and now it is up to us to decide. For those who disagree and/or do not like what is recommend; go to the polls and vote NO. If you agree and like the work done, go to the polls and vote YES.
It really is that simple. And I will be voting YES.
Thank you Superintendent Smith and School Board/Budget Committee members, I for one appreciate the work that you have done and the due diligence you have exercised to include as many people as possible in the process.
John DeWitt
Sidney Resident
