The school tax has become an enormous burden. At the same time, our valuable property investments are being lost because the school consistently underperforms. This is a growing problem that we can’t afford to ignore. I support the school and I’m happy to pay more for it, but not until the extraordinary sacrifice I’ve already made is respected with performance.
I live and work as an architect in Westbury and I’ve been volunteering to present at career day in the district for almost 15 years. Our children never cease to amaze me. I believe they’re invariably bright, charming, inquisitive and full of potential. I also see a faculty and staff that’s conscientious and hard working. The career day program they’ve produced is impressive.
So why does the school system consistently underperform? I hear the argument that the district is underprivileged. While that’s true it’s also true that the community works hard to compensate by making an extraordinary sacrifice for the school. It seems as though performance must also be a function of pride.
At the “meet the candidates” forum this year, the candidates were asked why they wanted to be on the school board. One incumbent gave a long dissertation on why they strongly support free education without ever acknowledging the people who pay for the free education. Another incumbent stated that Westbury is full of honor and pride, yet no one showed up to meet the candidates. We can’t afford a school board that’s so out of touch with reality.
Government’s solution to education is to make it compulsory. But performance is a function of pride. If compulsion worked the students would perform. The hypocrisy is embarrassing. We sing about freedom in our national anthem as we pound our children through school like round pegs through square holes. Forcing students to go to school against their will is causing indifference and defiance towards school. It’s transforming the system into an enormously overpriced daycare. And it’s putting performing students at risk. We’ve also put ourselves at risk by trusting government because as compulsion fails the state expands. The school system will perform when school is an honor and privilege that must be earned. It’s time to question the efficacy of compulsion and of government in education.
Students perform up to their potential when they want to. To help inspire them we should consider building a new mentoring program. We could start with a pilot program for testing and then refine it. The program could be modeled after the career day program. The program could be built from community volunteers so it wouldn’t cost anything. The program should include a message about how invaluable our students are to us and how important their success is to us. Then we should release underperforming students from school and into the program.
We should also amend the curriculum to increase the emphasis on the connection between caring and opportunity. Caring about self demonstrates pride. Caring about others fosters teamwork. Caring about the underprivileged improves us all. And caring about country defends our land of opportunity. Before we teach math, science or English we should teach pride, altruism and patriotism. Without emphasizing these moral virtues, we’re teaching our children to build a future in a country that doesn’t have a future.
Now the district wants new buildings. The existing buildings are in disrepair but that’s because they weren’t properly maintained. The buildings are overcrowed. But we could expand the hours before adding space. We could do more to eliminate overcrowding in the community. We can ensure that students are not coming in from outside the district. And we can do more to improve student attitude because they will learn in overcrowded conditions if they want to. The district claims that new buildings won’t cost too much but we’re already paying too much. They claim the state will provide most of the funding. But it’s unfair to force the hard working tax payers of America to pour their hard earned resources into a community that doesn’t care very much.
America discovered that the only good government is a “government of the people.” But we’ve forsaken this heritage. Few of us can even name our legislators or school board members anymore more let alone be a part of the system. The school problem is a byproduct of this greater problem. No one’s “minding the store” as they say. Westbury is being consumed by apathy and being exploited.
The school is a business that requires funding and efficiency. But there’s also an ideological component to education. This article is intended to focus on the ideology. Much of the ideology contained herein has been suppressed behind the business mechanics of running a school. But the ideology of education has to surpass the business of education if education’s to succeed.
The school problem is growing. Tomorrow will be worse than today. So we’ve built a campaign to stop it. We need a school board that will address these issues. Our campaign was instrumental in overturning all three school board seats that were up for election this year. The campaign is growing. We hope you’ll join us too.
—Gary Spinello
