Cut-rate education would
hurt students and society
he writer of a recent letter, a self-described "beleaguered taxpayer," listed ways to cut school spending. I would suggest this gentleman might benefit from opening his eyes and looking at what’s really happening in education today. First of all, most of our local school districts are not, as he claims, "tiny fiefdoms."
Consider our own Freehold Regional High School District which serves well over 10,000 students from eight communities in six area high schools. Taxpayers who know better realize that we get a lot of bang for our buck with this arrangement, and support the annual budget; in fact, the FRHSD has one of the lowest per pupil costs in Monmouth County.
Second, what the writer terms "elective classes, including foreign languages and the arts" are in fact not elective, but state-mandated, and rightly so. The state of New Jersey has wisely recognized that the fine and performing arts are vital in helping students to understand, interpret and appreciate the human experience in positive, productive, and creative ways.
Today, as members of a complex global community, we understand the value of learning other languages and studying other cultures as a part of a well-rounded, complete education.
Third, the writer’s suggestion that mandatory school attendance be eliminated is ludicrous — unless, of course, he is personally willing to have these ex-students congregate at his house every day. Ignorance is always more costly to society than education and we would pay dearly if every child who didn’t like going to school was allowed to simply stay home.
Let’s face it, "back in the day" is a long way back. Unlike generations past, there are few promising jobs for the under-educated. It is the under-educated who are most likely to be unable to support themselves and their families; it is they who are over-represented in our jail cells.
Our hope for this generation of young people is that, when they grow up and are making choices that will affect us all, the decisions they make will be educated decisions — which depends, of course, on their having received a thorough and efficient education in the first place.
You get what you pay for: cut-rate, bargain-basement schooling provided only to "the chosen" is the worst possible answer to the education-funding question.
Jo Ann Price
Howell