Wednesday, October 18, 2000

I read with great interest the volley of letters regarding the quality of education in Fayette County. These types of discussions are quite valuable. One gentleman wrote in amazement of how some local students had no recollection of the attack on Pearl Harbor and various other important historical facts. In rebuttal, a local merit scholar and a couple of teachers gave an account of what is good about the school system.

History is so important because it often repeats itself. History is also packed full of extraordinary heroes that we can use as examples to summon up strength within ourselves in times of trouble. Unfortunately, history is also quite boring to our young people.

I had the privilege of growing up with a career master sergeant who had served in WWII, Korea and various other hot spots. I was given America history through someone who lived it. We happen to have some true war heroes living in our area. It would be truly wonderful if our men and women in the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) visited our high schools and gave the textbooks some personality.

There are also several books that could be used to supplement the history texts. America's most decorated soldier in history, Audie Murphy, wrote my favorite account of WWII in "To Hell and Back." Stephen Young's "Trapped at Pearl Harbor" is a real-life thriller about the 1941 attack. More recently, Stephen Ambrose has authored some gripping real life books on WWII in "D-Day" and "Band of Brothers." In addition, Tom Brokaw did a good job with his book "The Greatest Generation."

Some classes in our school system require that students attend public meetings like city council or planning commission. Unfortunately, I am not certain that the students leave the meetings with a true understanding of how our government really works. It would be great for the instructor to invite people on both sides of an issue to address the class prior to the students attending the public meeting. It would be even more exciting to see some of these students researching the issues expressing their views in the public hearings.

I recently attended a school board candidate debate at Starr's Mill High School sponsored by the PTSO. The students did an excellent job and I think that the only issue that they neglected was how could Fayette County slow down our continued school overcrowding problem.

We have so many critical issues to deal with in Fayette County. It is my prayer that all the PTSOs from all the schools will open up their meetings to debate topics like how to handle the continued school overcrowding problem and what is the definition of "quality of life" in Fayette County and how do we protect it.

I gladly volunteer to enter any debate about school overcrowding and school funding against School Board member Janet Smola or another school representative. I gladly volunteer to enter any debate about quality of life issues against Mayor Bob Lenox or Peachtree City Developmental Services Director Jim Williams.

Let's open up the discussion, stimulate our minds and create some real solutions to some very real problems. Please get involved and ask the organizations to which you belong to open their meetings to some of these issues. Your involvement will help both the young and old in our community to prosper.

Steve Brown

Peachtree City

Steve_ptc@juno.com

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