On a recent tour in Central America and the Caribbean, I was struck by each of the tour guide’s pride in their country’s high literacy rates and quality of their country’s schools. Observing classes and viewing schools supported their claims. Each guide spoke of their nation’s support of the educational system and reinforced the high standards, rigorous curriculum and importance of educating their country’s youth. Students were learning five different languages in elementary school and spending all but six weeks in the classroom. Teachers were well compensated for their work and were highly regarded in the community.
However, when I returned to California, the headline screamed, “Governor meets with educational leaders to outline interim budget cuts.” Our economy has not recovered sufficiently to stop these triggers; however, how is it that other countries see the absolute necessity of supporting education as one of their top priorities when we continue to slash, cut and decimate our educational system? Have we forgotten what these third world nations know – that education of our youth is the only way to ensure that our nation continues to grow and prosper – that education is the keystone of democracy?
Educators have always been a generous and giving group. Teachers are generous in that most support their classroom with their own funds. They are giving in that through every budget cut, those who work in education make up the loss by working harder to complete the work in less time. How long can this manpower compensation continue? How long can teachers keep contributing to the classroom while having their own paychecks cut? How much more can educational foundations such as the Live Oak Foundation with their generous grant of funds and the Teacher’s Aide Coalition with their invaluable class supplies give? The Morgan Hill Historical Society and Machado Learning Center offer our students’ minimal cost educational experiences and numerous parent groups work to raise funds for extracurricular programs. Parents volunteer their time, expertise and resources in the classroom, but all of these wonderful contributions don’t take the place of our educational obligation to our children.
Answers to education’s financial problems are not easy. No one reform or change will suddenly fix the education deficits. No one entity is to blame – it is not administrator’s salaries, the unions’ contracts the teachers’ pay, or retirement annuities. Answers and changes are not easy to uncover or enact. However, in order to save one of our country’s basic founding blocks, education, steps must be taken to first make our youth a top priority.
Avenues of open communication must be established to begin to look at how our system works. Successful programs should be studied to see if they could be replicated in other schools. Other country’s systems should be examined to see if there are changes that can be enacted here. Everyone in the country needs to make education a top priority. Our elected officials should not just use education as a campaign selling point, but actually make some effort to prioritize it. Putting change all on the classroom teacher is not the solution either. The educational process goes far deeper and is more complicated then textbooks or standards. The educational process involves the entire community. Parents need to do their part and truly support learning in and outside of the classroom. Students need to make school their top priority in life. Community leaders and local businesses should be involved in not only donations, but in the actual governance of our systems. Expensive, one size-fits-all program is not the answer either. We have educational professionals in every classroom and school district. The best and brightest of these professionals should be in on the discussion of how to reform education and bring us back to world-class standards and recognition.
Unless we as a nation and state change our mind set about the importance of teaching our youth, our littlest people will not have the same opportunities afforded us by past generations. We cannot waste this new generation’s chance at a decent life for without education, one will not succeed. Our nation’s educational system should be one of our highest priorities not one of its causalities.
Margaret Rodrigues is now a retired teacher of the Morgan Hill Unified School District after 37 years of service. She was the former Vice President of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers and a former Board Member of the California Association for Gifted Education. Presently, she is the Teaching American History Grant Program Facilitator providing in-service training to teachers in four districts that are a part of this grant.
