LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO VOLUNTEER

SCOTT CITY -- Christmas giving and the importance of education were subjects Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson discussed with Scott City students Wednesday.

Talking first with students in kindergarten through sixth grade, Wilson asked if they knew how much the state spends on their education.

The answer, he said, was just over $3,000 per student each year. The cost of keeping a person in prison, however, is more than $15,000 per year.

Wilson suggested the students discuss these numbers with their parents at home. He said he knows it is sometimes hard to get parents' attention. Parents will appreciate knowing what their children think is important, he said.

To the junior-high and high-school students, Wilson said that 75 percent of high-school students graduate statewide. Only 25 percent of those go to college, he said.

With most people seeking jobs after high school, Wilson said his generation has to do a good job on technical training, preparing people to enter the work place.

Wilson said he hoped the students supported the governor in his efforts to improve education. He said the governor went out on a limb to do what he thought was right in 1993 to raise taxes for education, even though he has received flak for it.

As a former teacher and principal, Wilson said one of his prejudices is public education. He told the older students that he felt public education was one of the reasons that the United States won World War II. He said pilots, for example, were able to learn how to fly in just 90 days because of their basic public education.

To both groups of students, Wilson talked about the giving spirit he had seen recently from a group of volunteers at a veterans hospital.

He asked the students to take a risk by being the first to lay some ideas on the table to improve their community. He said the students may be laughed at -- something that has happened to him -- but they need to be bold enough to take the first step.

"The same person doesn't always have the best ideas," Wilson told the younger students. He said they should visit some senior citizens, sing some carols or volunteer their time and spirit in some way.

"Don't be embarrassed to take the lead," Wilson told the older students. "Take a look around at your community to see how you can help out. If you can make someone's life better, adopt a family for Christmas, or maybe for the whole year."

After his words to both groups, Wilson answered several questions, including how he got his job, whether he liked it, the cost of desegregation in Kansas City, the Hancock II proposal and school prayer.

Seniors Isaac Newell and Angie McCloud both said Wilson related well to the students in the audience, who come from a small town where everyone knows everyone.

"I liked his stand on the Hancock amendment and his ideas on school prayer," Newell said. "He talked about the things that affect us -- things that are going on in our lives."

McCloud called the talk very interesting and informative. "He answered the questions well and wasn't boring like many speakers," she said.