‘Forest vs. Trees’ in Ponca City, OK
The Ponca City News carried an op ed letter about the recent school bond issue. The issue failed.
The article chastises the good people of Ponca City, OK (midway between Oklahoma City, OK, and Wichita, KS, just 13 miles East of I-35). Using words like ’sad’, ‘self-righteous stuff‘, this is clearly a letter from someone with strong feelings.
Just a month ago a tax issue was defeated, that would have extended a ‘temporary’ tax increase intended to pay off a particular bond issue. Seems to me that the voters here actually see that the emperor has no clothes. I have heard pundits from the local talk-radio program ‘Eisel’ to good neighbors claim that any thinking, honorable person will spend any amount of money for education that the schools ask for. The problem I have is that the school here is known in the community for athletics, not academics. And that nationally, the best academic educations are funded moderately or even poorly funded.
So I applaud my neighbors that voted down a knee-jerk response to the schools wanting more money. I want to see better education results, and evidence that funding increases education, not the very popular sports programs. School sports are big business. Step into a classroom, as a teacher or a substitute, and you see related materials, some desks, a room. And kids. What you don’t see are whether there are more ’support’ staff than are needed, whether proportions of education budget that end up supporting athletics are a reasonable balance with expenses for music, art, reading, and history education.
I imagine that we need football, wrestling, and other competitive sports to introduce soldier-like values to our kids, to pre-prepare our next generations of warriors. Fine. Then put education under the Department of Defense, so that we focus our training on our needs. Or if the purpose of schools is to prepare scientists and mathematicians, then we have to do a much better job than we are now, cause here in Ponca City, we don’t make kids wait for graduation to start Pioneer Technology trade schools.
Ponca City has a very, very good school system. I substitute taught for a few months, and found the people there to be professional, organized, and thrifty. The materials taught, levels of comprehension, discipline, all impressed me, staff and student alike (even if I did seem to get more than my share of days in ’special ed’ — students that disrupt regular classes),
Most of my biggest criticisms fall into two categories. One is federal programs and requirements. I am convinced that any school system could refuse all federal dollars, and thereby avoid requirement to adhere to federal guidelines and regs — and save money. And better educate the kids, under completely local control. The other major concern I have is about sports. I noticed how many of the kids involved in arrogant and aggressive behavior, both in school and in later life, were ‘leaders’ in sports. Too often sports programs instill a spirit of bullying. Sports programs, like beauty contests, instill artificial and damaging values of self-image and honorable behavior. The very best programs do well with many of the players, but those that don’t excel, those not accepted, all suffer. How not, when ’school spirit’ receives so much attention? How does the kid doing well in math or science compete for attention at home, when Dad only gets excited about school matters — when cheering the football team?
As a nation we face a problem. Our universities are educating scientists and educators, but so many are foreign nationals, and destined to enrich their own countries. Our kids are focused on cheerleading and sports as the means to ’succeed’ in school, but for almost all of them, those ’successes’ are mere memories as of the date of graduation.
Our national school system is the obvious place to enable our next generation of voters. As our military assures our security, it is our nation’s voters that assure our government and nation grow and prosper as a land of peace. Like all big government programs, the school system would tend to add more programs, build more individual sub-empires, given the opportunity. I was taught the founders of the school system intended compulsory education to produce people capable of voting responsibly. That is why the initial compulsory laws read ‘through 8 th grade or age 16′. Since then, various government and special interests have added programs and agendas that will either buy votes or destroy opponents (as Hitler was supposed to have said, "Give me your children, and I will take your country.") We have to watch our schools, to teach what we want taught.
And that means that because a school board asks for money, I am going to look at the proposal, rather than the requestor, to decide if it makes sense to me. Calling names is just another form of bullying. "It is the crude man that forces others to act in a direct manner."
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