You Need An Education

There is a lot of talk about education lately and so much of it is coming from people who are so uninformed it’s not even funny.  While much of my experience and knowledge of school districts comes from growing up in rural SW Missouri, I believe my points and ideas are transferable to almost any district.

First of all, in Oklahoma people wonder why the Lottery isn’t the fix for schools.  I believe the lottery was intended as a supplemental income for education.  It was never meant to fully or mostly fund schools.  That being said, the lottery has not reached original projections.  Lotteries rarely do provide as much money as promised.  I am not opposed to state lotteries.  I think they are good things if used correctly.  It is a voluntary tax on people who are bad at math.  I even play occasionally because, let’s face it, sometimes it’s worth a dollar to have a daydream of leaving it all behind.  The problem is education budgets are often repeatedly raided because it’s assumed the lottery will fix anything that is stolen.  Well guess what?  It doesn’t work that way.

In times like these it’s up to everyone to help out.  This means coming up with creative solutions to budget problems.  The problem here is so many agencies have been living beyond their means for so long.  Waste exists in every level of government, I’m sure there are a few departments that are lean and doing the right thing, but you will rarely find an agency that couldn’t find ways to cut costs without cutting people or services.

In education this means working smarter and maybe it means cutting salaries.  No not cutting salaries for teachers, they are treated poorly enough, cutting salaries for administrators.  Some administrators do a great job, but some are paid far too much money compared to their teachers.  When you are making three or four times as your employees and continue to get raises as others are laid off, it is time for you to rethink your life.  There is nothing wrong with making money, but making money at the expense of others…well you decide if you could live with yourself.

So many schools are cutting band and choir programs to balance budgets.  In my opinion this is the stupidest move of all.  Yes our children need to be prepared in math, science and language, but the arts are just as important.  No one would say eliminate sports to save money.  This is not an anti-sports rant.  Sports provide students valuable lessons and teach you things you will not learn in a classroom.  However music and art do the same thing for students.

Music can help students learn better in all areas of life.  It teaches teamwork and responsibility.  Studies have shown that music helps the brain develop better and can make your kids smarter.  Why would you want to that away from kids?  Not everyone is a musician or an artist, just like not everyone is an athlete.  Why discriminate against students who aren’t athletic?  When you get right down to it, that is exactly what you are doing by taking away art and music teachers.  I would love to see some student file a discrimination lawsuit against districts.

I am not sure if there is a study, but I would almost guarantee that more students who are involved in music and art in high school go on to use that in a career than those who are involved in athletics.  In my high school there were two guys on the football team who went on to play in college.  Both are still involved in sports in some way, but guess how many people still use music or art?  Many more.  They are teachers, graphic designers, or other artists.  I am not a professional musician, but I still play my instruments.  Music gave me the ability to learn so many different things in life and by not focusing on just one extra-curricular it allowed me to be a more rounded person.

It is time for us to look at what is the right thing to do and not what is the easy thing.  It is easy to eliminate teachers and increase class sizes.  What might be harder is finding new funding sources or making difficult decisions to cut expenses.  Lawmakers need to stop monkeying around (I apologize to all monkeys offended by that statement) with education.  Fund it.  Fund it correctly.  Find the waste in other areas of government and get rid of it.  Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution.

**Disclaimer** I come from a family of teachers who have lived and worked with similar problems for years.  One of my sister’s is a music teacher.  Music is a part of our lives and I am incredibly thankful for that fact.