There is reason and evidence to believe that early education pays back handsomely, possibly over $40 to one. Many object to paying for public schools. Who taught them? Who paid? Probably 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 to count money. In the future, who will 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 read an Army instruction manual, and we did not go to the moon with engineers who could not … well, without educated engineers — engineers who were 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 building.
Public education is the key to having a broadly educated young generation ready to step up to the tasks that our predecessors never contemplated. Those who only teach what they were taught are depriving their pupils of the latest information. Old knowledge alone is no longer adequate.
There is virtually no vocation today that does not require at least a 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 pupil. After the Civil War southern states eschewed public education. The rich, white landowners established private schools. The emancipated Blacks and poor whites were left uneducated and exploitable.
California, for example, apportions pre-college education money equally on a per-pupil basis statewide. That sounds fair, but affluent neighborhoods subsidize their local schools. They also have many students in 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 that contradiction and resolve it or discount it. There is also input that must be put in 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.
The rich can afford to have their offspring spend much of their life in school, often in high-priced private school where some learn critical thinking along with reading, writing and arithmetic, etc. Poor children often have to quit school at an early age so they can contribute to the family income or go out on 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 in 1635. The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 called for the state legislature to establish at least one school in every county, but this was never enacted or enforced. Making education available to all began with Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1952, but there are still gaps.
Feedback encouraged at obenskik@gmail.com. Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today
