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To the Editor:
This letter serves as a response to David Crawmer’s two previous letters on the subject matter of public education.
Mr. Crawmer over the years has made clear his distaste for our public education as can be seen in his many letters berating the teachers, departments of education, boards of education, other letter writers, and now “wealthy neighbors,” who vote for budgets not everyone can afford.
The only groups he hasn’t targeted are those students who continually do not meet educational benchmarks or get a particular score on some test and their parents.
We as a nation have a problematic educational system, a complex matrix of dysfunction that no amount of blaming, buck-passing or half-arsed interventions can address.
The reality of the educational conversation is two-fold, one being the funding and fiscal accountability of the educational system.
Put simply, property tax is not an appropriate way of paying for our children’s education, as it is regressive and places undue burden on citizens for a task that is the responsibility of the state. An educated population is a crucial component of a healthy economy and subsequently a prosperous nation.
The second part of the educational conversation is one that nary a soul seeks to discuss. The American education system has forgotten the importance of producing educated and well-rounded students and instead has settled on a battery of tests to demonstrate student academic proficiency.
Gone are the days when the seven liberal sciences served as the foundation for children’s education and as a result we’ve become a nation that produces mediocrity as opposed to excellence.
I’m a firm proponent of a free public education for every American child but have grown tired of redundant conversations about revenue and expenditures for a system that does little educating anymore. We as a nation have to redefine what we accept as a public education system if we are to see any chance of prosperity for our nation and even more important hope for all of America’s children.
Aaron Harrell
Guilderland