DESTINATION MUST BE DEFINED TO FIND PROPER WAY OF GETTING THERE

In an ever-increasing stream, the media reports discussion regarding how our cherished institution of free public education can, or cannot, change to meet the new challenges of the information age. How can we effectively prepare our younger citizens for a useful and fulfilling life in the 21st century?

There are those who say we need to scrap the whole thing and start over -- the old institution can't be fixed, it can't adapt. Others cry out for the return to the good ol' days. "It was good enough for my parents, it's good enough for my grandchildren," they say.

This school superintendent still believes that this nation, in its infancy, was blessed by God with a special wisdom. This was a wisdom that produced the Constitution of the United States. It was one that turned the philosophy of the world upside down when it proclaimed that government was to serve the people -- the individual, not the other way around.

Out of that belief in the value of each and every individual, a public school system was berthed. Out of the minds of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others came a vision of an educated people choosing their own leaders and directly controlling their destiny through the ballot.

Jefferson said: "I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

Education is a key corrective to many of the abuses in our land, but not all of them. There have been changes in the Constitution since its writing. These changes have not tainted the anointing of the original, for the writers made room for change. These changes have opened wider and wider the arms of government to include more citizens.

Likewise, public education in Jackson, Cape Girardeau and the state of Missouri must build on the best qualities of its past and change to meet the needs of its citizens for tomorrow. My 1931 "Missouri Course of Study" does not mention microcomputers. However, by 1872 "Wentworth's Arithmetic Problems" does include problems such as "How many cords of wood at $9.50 per cord will pay for 76 yd. of cloth at $2.50 per yd.?"

Both microcomputers and math problems about cords of wood are relevant in their time. Public education too has changed as it has opened its arms wider to include more and more of its young citizens.

Also, educating children must return to the tried and true practice of intentionally teaching the value of honesty, respect for authority, integrity, hard work, charity and concern for others. Schools and parents much join hands in reinforcing the values essential to developing happy and productive citizens, workers and parents for the 21st century.

The schoolteacher alone cannot teach honesty, cooperation and the value of doing your best. It will take a conscious effort by all of us, as it did in 1895 or 1955.

In this superintendent's mind, we need to stop quibbling over whether we call it our curriculum, course of study, goals, outcomes, standards or frameworks, and in every community, school classroom and home discuss specifically what our children need to know and be able to do. That is what Jefferson did, and that is what we must do. Only when we define the destination can we properly chart the course and design the vehicle to get us there.

I appreciate the opportunity to begin this discussion with the patrons of Jackson R-2 School District in this article, and I hope to identify for your consideration what I see as critical areas of study in future writing.