PLATFORM : Flame Under Foot

I had a third-grade teacher named Wilson who kindled a spark within me to become an educator. Now, 27 years later, another man named Wilson has come along and taken that flame under foot and slowly begun to grind it to cinder.

In all fairness, there have been other attempts through the years to smother my fervor to teach. But when milestones in education funding like Proposition 98 began, that spark ignited into a blaze of desire to return to college and pursue a teaching credential.

Now, however, Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to suspend Proposition 98 in light of the budget crisis has just held this aspiring educator’s candle up to the wind.

Between the governor’s ironic pro-education pledges and President Bush’s failure to become the “education President,” I’m certain that there are at least a thousand points of light out there that have been snuffed out. We are castrating California’s future. Cuts in other programs and tax hikes are inevitable and must be accepted if education is to flourish.