Education

(This is a repost of something I put on my Facebook page)

I have been reading some of the posts on Facebook regarding comments by Melissa Harris-Perry, and end up just shaking my head.

The prevailing opinion seems to be that "the gubmint's gunna took our kidz, 'n put 'em in "Lib'ral Edjuka-tion camps, cuz that's wut Hitler done did."

Wow.

" "Ms." Perry doesn't have any kids, I'd wager (Bet she's had several abortions, though)."

Double wow. What happened to "Compassionate Conservatism"?

Not everyone who is concerned is a whack job like these two, but nearly every comment I've seen has left me shaking my head.

In the first place, I read this as her saying that we need to invest in the education of all our kids, especially the disadvantaged who would most benefit from a good education. She doesn't want to take your kids away, she wants them treated as a community resource, because the community as a whole benefits when kids get good educations.

I received a public education from a district which was properly funded (our teachers certainly didn't have to use their own money to buy basic classroom supplies) and which was ranked in the top 1% of the nation. My county's public schools were ranked in the top 1% on the ACT and SATs as well. the percentage of high school graduates who went on to further training or higher education was also greatly above the national average. I certainly don't regret that education.

Yet since just about the time that I graduated, education budgets have been cut again and again (and again, and again). Small, short-sighted savings which lead to greater costs down the road. This is what Ms Harris-Perry means when she talks about children belonging to the community, and the government leaving kids to the family. Not their moral educations, not some imagined indoctrination; simply the need for the community as a whole to ensure that the resources exist for all children to receive a proper education.

Our generation (those of us who received good educations at least) have by-and-large been pretty successful. Don't you think it would benefit all of us if all kids were as lucky as we were?