Above the fold, far-right column, in the January 29th issue of the Register, one finds a blogger’s natural prey – an uncritical, one-sided view of a topic. It’s a story about our public school district’s budget. I would prefer, as I have written before, a robust private school alternative in Whitewater, alongside our public schools. We’re too small, it seems, for a private alternative. I would be less inclined toward, but still supportive of, those parents who wish to home-school their children. (It wouldn’t be my choice, but it should be theirs.)
School District on Target with Budget. We’ll, the headline’s the story – the school district budget is on target.
One quick question, though: What’s the target? The Whitewater Unified School District’s Business Manager, Jane Nikolai, reports that “All the percentages are real close to last year.” Well done, surely.
By these percentages, she describes, of course, the supposed financial health of the district. The budget, though, is not an end-in-itself, but a mere means to another, far greater end. A quick example illustrates this point.
Suppose I told you that the federal government could produce a new and innovative public program, at a cost of $220 billion dollars. The program would cost a bit less than initially estimated, down from an original figure of $245 billion.
Would you support the program?
Perhaps, but first you’d ask me: What’s the program?
I might give you two possibilities. Possibility One would be a program that, for $220 billion, would definitely produce an efficient, compact, reliable, fusion reactor design, easily constructed throughout cities in America. I would prefer that the whole program be privately undertaken, over several years’ time, but I’d listen to the public works proposal for such an extraordinary achievement.
Possibility Two, for the same $220 billion (remember, down from $245 billion!), would be a federally-controlled chain of Hardee’s style restaurants near bus terminals, train stations, vacant lots, and skid rows across America. (Set aside, for the moment, that the private sector has already achieved as much.)
Would you support, or oppose, these possibilities equally? Probably not. The $220 billion seems more or less reasonable when considered as a substantive proposal, for definite ends and goals.
A few quick questions, then, for district leaders – each sincere — some serious, some light. The answers should be known to every leader in our district, as the metrics that matter more – far more — than the budget.
- How do Whitewater students perform on basic measures of academic performance, against other students in the state? Is their performance better or worse relative to others now, as against five, or ten years’ time, ago?
- How many students read at or above grade level in our elementary schools, compared to students from other districts (excluding ones with extreme poverty, like Milwaukee)?
- How many students, each year, drop out of school in our district?
- How many languages do we offer in our schools? Spanish, French, yes, but what else?
- How many canonical works of literature are taught – not just mentioned – in our schools? How long do students spend on a given work? Other than American and British literature, what else is taught to interested students?
- Do students readily know that they may take university courses if our district does not offer a course for them? Are they encouraged to do so?
- How many students will attend post-secondary education upon graduating this year? Is that number more or less than five, ten years ago?
- Where will they attend, if they attend post-secondary education?
- How many of these students, attending colleges outside the area, will return to live in Whitewater?
- Is there anything interesting about calculus? Why study that subject? Is it more, somehow, than notations on a page?
- For the natural sciences that we teach, is there a history and sociology of them, too, that might add color and understanding to the problems we ask our students to solve?
- When is the last time our District Administrator walked into a classroom, and had a substantive discussion with students about history, philosophy, art history, trigonometry, biology, agricultural science, or music. A full discussion, animated and interesting, than neither students nor Administrator wanted to end?
Now, I am not a teacher. Sorry, professional educator, or doctor of whatever field. Imagine a world – ours, sadly — where ‘teacher’ is role and title not enough. There was a time when a great people, first in the wilderness, yet later setting the foundation for our way of life, saw the honor in calling someone ‘Rabbi.’ No longer – we must be titled more elaborately now. Teacher was, and should be, enough.
I have, at least occasionally, opened a book, and read it, and done so without feeling the need for anyone’s permission. A free person needs no license to read, either from government, or any number of self-important town squires. He does need, though, the desire to pick up a book, apart from any program or class, and enjoy it.
School ends for all of us. Yet we might do ourselves and our children the service of lifetime learning, far beyond cold metrics, if we would instill that desire forever.