Sunday, April 29, 2018

The Value of Education

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
— ― Nelson Mandela
While it’s not normally accurate to say everybody agrees with or wants one particular thing, I can’t imagine anyone who would disagree with the value of an education. No one who has children wants them to have anything but the best possible education and even those who don’t have kids want it for themselves and their community. Where would any of us be without an educational system?
The problem becomes in finding agreement on what makes an education good. Is it state of the art equipment in our schools? High tech smart boards and iPads? Well, those things are nice, and there’s no question that they are an improvement over dusty chalkboards and a backbreaking load of books. They are just a tool though, they are not the substantive part of an education.
What about staff? For me it’s about who is standing next to the smart board. The right teacher can give a kid the world. My middle boy will graduate from high school next year. If you include the two years my oldest spent in the public integrated pre-school, I will have had at least one child in the school system here for 23 solid years. In those years, there have been maybe a half a dozen teachers and a few staff members who have been outstanding, who literally reached my children in a profound way. The rest were good too, for the most part. Like any family, we experienced a few that were sub par as well. That happens anywhere, but even they taught my kids something.
So you have staff and you have facilities and equipment, then there is curriculum, probably the most debated part of public education. Honors classes, AP classes, Everyday Math, Addison Wesley Math, Mass Frameworks, MCAS and so much more. It matters a lot but there’s a huge part of educating kids that’s being overlooked: vocational education.
If you were anywhere near my house last Monday around noon, you may have heard a little screaming. That’s because we received a letter in the mail saying that my daughter had been accepted to Essex Tech, a vocational school. We are calling it our “Golden Ticket.” It’s not that I don’t like the schools here in town; it’s that they don’t have what my daughter wants and needs and she’s not the only kid in that situation. Essex Tech accepts 360 kids in the Freshman class each year. They get hundreds and hundreds of applications for those seats. The facilities are brand new, the equipment is state of the art and the staff members I’ve met seem highly qualified and dedicated. My friends and family are so happy for Devin, but there’s been another reaction and it’s not pretty.
One person said to me, “Why would you let her go there? She’s not troubled, she’s not a behavior problem, don’t you want her to go to college instead of doing hair?” Actually, Devin might “do hair” and go to college too. Or she might go to nursing school, or open a salon, or work in graphic arts. She’s not sure yet, she’s only fourteen, but for her Essex is a phenomenal opportunity and one I think a lot of people don’t understand.
The kids there work hard. They take a full class load, just like any high school, and they also take a full load of classes in a chosen trade. They participate in varsity sports, they take honors and AP, and they go to college too. It’s not juvie, it’s not full of behavior kids or kids who can’t “hack it” in traditional high schools. Think about the person who cuts your hair, or builds your deck or fixes your leaky sink. Do you look at them as something less than your lawyer or your banker? Why? Would you say to any of them “Were you a behavior problem? How come you didn’t go to regular school? Did you get in trouble and get sent there?”
Not if you have any brains you wouldn’t. Throughout the process of Devin applying to Essex, got asked a lot of very pointed questions about why I’d let her go to “beauty school” and miss out on going to college. A lot of patronizing looks, sighs and “Oh. Well...not everyone is into academics.” These were not people I give a rat’s bum about so it doesn’t matter, but one thing does. More of this kind of education is needed, because while we were literally jumping for joy at our house, some kids were not. The waiting list for Essex has hundreds of families hoping that their golden ticket comes too. All our children deserve an education that will help them succeed, but one size does not fit all, not even close. Every child matters, even the ones who don’t follow the typical path.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Politics, Local and Otherwise.

This is a column I wrote in 2016, before I knew the results of the Presidential election. I'm not a fan of the President, but he's got the job, so, here we are. I am running for office, locally. Because I believe it's important to show up. My father taught me this, he was wise, he was kind and he was everything a father and man should be. I so wish he could see me now.

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics does not mean that politics won’t take an interest in you.”
— Pericles
By the time this is printed, we will have a new president. Whoever it is will have made history. It’s been quite something this time around. No matter where you stood on the issues or whose sign was on your lawn, this election probably caused some stress, anxiety and maybe even fights with friends and family. There were new lows in some of the campaigning and definitely some high points too. Everyone could likely agree on that even if no agreement could be reached on who was best for the job.
Early voting was a thing this year, and while a quick check of Google tells me it’s not really new and that some states like Texas and Oregon have had it for awhile, it still seems both new and old at the same time. I am used to voting in the gym at the Rec and Park building, but early voters went to Abbot Hall. It’s definitely hometown bias and pride, but is there any place more historic, more American and more suited to this crucial part of democracy than a building that houses a famous painting of the very beginnings of our republic? Still, I decided to hold out and vote on Election Day because growing up, even for small races, it was a very big deal. There was an energy to it that just doesn’t happen, for me at least, until the actual day.
My father entered politics early and often, having been elected to some imaginary office by his classmates on the school bus at the beginning of his freshman year of high school. From then on if there was an office to be held, chances were good that he would throw his hat in the ring. School committee was by far his favorite and where he spent most of his “political” career. Whenever town elections were held, I knew that a large part of the day would find him holding a sign on the sidewalk and the night would be spent waiting around town hall, the smell of paper ballots and cigarettes in the air. A chalkboard was the 1960s version of an electoral map, and a long table with a few telephones on it was the communications center. On this night only, I was allowed to stay up late and wait for the votes to be counted. Some years it took almost an hour in the little town of Nahant to count all the votes. That was politics back in the day, and as much as I love social media and advanced technology, there’s something to be said for going old school.
What hasn’t changed in politics, however, is the concept of being part of the process. Not everyone wants to run for office, and, certainly, not everyone should. That isn’t the only way to take part, however. Did you vote this week? For anyone who didn’t, it’s now time for you to sit down and keep quiet. Early voting went on for 11 days here in town with a total of 89 hours of availability. Then, on Nov. 8, polls were open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., offering another 13 hours. Absentee ballots were available for those who might have been out of town. There was plenty of time to get out and vote. Perhaps some people just chose not to vote. Honestly, it’s easier for me to comprehend the Periodic Table of Elements than it is to understand the choice not to vote, and that is saying something since I flunked high school chemistry.
My father gave me many things, from red hair and green eyes to a wicked attitude and a love of car rides to nowhere, but the most important of them has to be the belief that voting in elections, at every level, is vital to all of our lives. He believed in the process; he believed it was a citizen’s sacred duty to cast a ballot whenever one was offered. And he believed it started at home, in our own communities. For him, it was about standing up and showing up. Here’s to moving on, to another four years, to new laws and old battles and to the never-ending cycle of determining who we are and how we will run our towns, our states and our country.
What’s next?