Schools Suffer From Neglect

Hodgkinson certainly brought up some very important points in his article. I couldn’t agree more that education in our state has been sadly neglected and we indeed face great peril if we do not address this problem.

As Diogenes said, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” Of course, the governor should make sizable contributions from our state surplus to schools. Of course, money alone is not enough. What is needed now is a complete reexamination of the educational process. There are some key questions with which we can begin. What is the possibility for education as the commitment to the creation of whole and complete human beings who are ready and willing to be responsible for the course of life on this planet? What would schools look like under these circumstances?

As a teacher in the Los Angeles schools, I came up with some answers for myself. We could begin by insuring that before each school day begins every student is well nourished. (About one-fourth of my students attend class each day without having eaten breakfast.)

We could teach commitment to community service as an admirable, respectable and useful way to participate in life. We could create a network of child-care centers throughout the city that would meet the nutritional and developmental needs of every preschooler. High school students could be provided with a class on parenting. The possibilities are endless.

But these possibilities can only become a reality if we form a network of partnerships between parents, teachers, students, union leadership, administrators, community leaders, business and political leaders. The current adversarial positions held by many members of these groups must be abandoned immediately with the realization that partnership is the only way we can overcome current problems.

Can we accomplish this goal? Can we meet this call to action? I believe we can if we are all willing to work together and make a true commitment to the future of our state. Let’s get busy, start asking questions and see what needs to be done. We have a lot of work to do.

MARI NICHOLS

Canoga Park