Need ‘Education Ethic’

In his column of Nov. 11, James Flanigan wrote that “the role of education is paid a lot of lip service . . . but paying taxes to improve schools is often something else again.”

How many times have we heard that throwing money at a problem is the solution?

If this were true, those pupils attending where the cost per student is low would have the highest dropout rate and truancy rate and the lowest SAT scores, with the opposite being true for those pupils in countries where the situation is reverse.

Of course, this is not the case. Ireland, in particular, has a very low cost per student. What is needed is an “education ethic” in the United States that equals or exceeds that in Ireland (or Wales or Japan, for that matter). First comes the education ethic, then the work ethic, then the pay for services rendered.

ROBERT HAWKINS

Santa Barbara