Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Dec. 7, 1941; Iwo Jima; Benedict Arnold; "Et tu, Brute"; "Give me liberty or give me death."

If you cannot identify these dates, people or quotes, you are not alone. The students in our Fayette County high schools don't know them either.

Recently, I had the opportunity to ask a question of several high school students. I simply asked them if they could tell me what happened on Dec. 7, 1941. They did not have a clue. When I suggested to them that it was a date which would live in infamy, most remembering hearing that statement, but could not identify what happened. So much for what F.D.R. thought. I hope they know who Franklin Roosevelt is.

We have an obvious problem in our school system. When I think that Fayette County is one of the highest rated counties in the state, it scares me to think what the rest of Georgia is like. Just what are the students in our schools learning?

Well, I asked one of the students that very question, and she said they learn safe lifestyles.

Well, I guess we should be happy to know that our young people will be having safe sex. And we can thank our public school system for that.

One student said they had not studied World War II as of yet. They were studying Egypt. When asked where Egypt was, this student could not say. Though they were studying Egypt, this student could not name the large sea to the north (Mediterranean Sea) or to the east (Red Sea). Also could not name any countries nearby except to say it was the country that had a desert.

I am distraught to think that my tax dollars are going toward an education system that does not seem to be working. I do not even have children, yet my money is going toward the education, or lack of education of someone else's children.

If I am being forced by the government to assist in the payment of these kids' education, I would like to see some results. I don't expect these kids to be able to quote Shakespeare, but it would be nice if they knew he was. I don't expect them to know every battle of World War II, but they should know that there was a war, and they should know when it occurred. They should know that between 1861 and 1865 this country was torn by civil war. They should know how courageous it was to declare independence from the British Empire in 1776. They should know how to locate Egypt on a map.

What is the problem? I am not exactly sure, but most likely it is the fact that government is in charge of the education system. Any time the government gets involved, it tends to complicate things. If schools were privatized and run more like businesses, they would probably function much better.

A voucher system would be a step in the right direction. This would cause competition between schools, and create an improved education system. Each school would be working diligently at getting customers. They would do that by having a superior product, and great customer service.

We need to get government out of our schools. We cannot have Washington, D.C., telling us how to educate our young people. We need to do it ourselves. It is up to us.

Another problem, and I know this will upset quite a few people, is that many of our dollars are spent on high school sports. What does that have to do with education? These dollars could go toward science, math, and other true educational programs. The money could be used toward higher pay for teachers.

I do not know the numbers, but it must be staggering to think how much money is spent just to build a football field and stadium, to purchase equipment, uniforms, etc. This large amount of "sports money" goes only to a small percentage of the student body.

I am not against sports. I am all for young people in Fayette County to have the right to play football or soccer, or any other sport, but they need to get together and form their own teams. It should not be the responsibility of the education system to promote the sporting industry. The education system needs to promote education.

People will say that sports promote discipline. Maybe it does. That is irrelevant. If we desire to promote discipline, maybe we should require all of the students to go through R.O.T.C. It would be less expensive, and more effective.

Where is our education system headed? We cannot continue to allow the government to dumb down the next generation. They need to be taught the basics, and expected to perform. We need to require that of our schools and our kids.

Better education, to be or not to be, that is the question. That's from Hamlet. Did Shakespeare write that? Yes, among other things.

Carl A. Thompson

Peachtree City

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