Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN
Having been in the education game for more than 30 years, I think I have heard all the arguments for and against bond elections, or more importantly, spending money on schools. Generally the arguments have been based on two things – “it was good enough for me” or “we can’t afford it.” Sometimes we heard, “we are a poor town or district and need to save.” A fourth argument is, “we need to pay teachers more, so we can’t spend it on buildings.”
I want some people who are so afraid of progress to remember their own educational experience. Were you not proud of a new item in the science lab? How about that new computer that the really bright students were allowed to use? Wasn’t it exciting there were new books in your classroom when you returned to school in the fall? What about that new science lab that they built so you could take more than just an introduction to biology?
The buildings that most people over the age of 35 attended are probably not outfitted with the necessary energy sources that are required in today’s technological world. If you are thinking of only one user on a computer for instance, you have not thought large enough. Remember that there may be hundreds of students on computers simultaneously. They are demanding an enormous amount of energy.
Some of us are still using that old copper wire for transmission of electronic material. Probably that old building that you are saying is good enough has just such wire. What about fiber optics? Can that old building even be rewired for copper? How many outlets were in that math lab that you used so many times?
More to the point, if that car you were driving broke down to the point that it was beyond repair and you needed it to get to work, wouldn’t you borrow money to buy another? That is where America is when it comes to buildings and getting to “work.” Just as you needed a car to continue working, America needs the tools to keep up with the rest of the world when it comes to education and preparing students for the 21st century. If you are thinking of keeping Americans working in the world, then new and better schools are the “vehicle” to get them there.
America and your local community can no longer survive on the old ways of doing things. No longer is the response “it was good enough for me” an acceptable one. No longer is it possible to go into the world of modernity with the same old tools. We no longer see slide rules hanging from the belts of students enrolled in engineering and related courses. Teachers no longer demand that written homework be in blue or black ink. The mechanical world has changed and the world of structures has to keep up with it.
Surely, you can go down the road of modernity with the old, but eventually you are going to be pushed aside. America is already dropping, not slipping, in educational attainment when compared to the rest of the world. For too long we have rested on our laurels without observing what the rest of the world was and is doing.
Respect for education and educators has dropped when economics entered the picture. State legislators and local governments and populations have been willing to do with the same amount or even less when it came to schools. We are now seeing the results.
If we are truly concerned about the role of America in the world, if we are truly interested in America once again being the educational center of the world, if we are really concerned about our security, we will spend money on bringing our facilities into the 21st century. That means buildings as well as equipment. Teachers can’t teach 21st century technology with 20th century tools.
