Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – Education

I’m Sam Jones.  

In all honesty so much is wrong with this picture, I don’t know where to start. If the plan was, to do as much damage to public education as possible, then its  working. On one hand, before any given election you’ll hear the candidates say, “Our children are our future.”  But on the other hand, after the election, that rhetoric dies away and it’s business as usual.  

Major tax cuts continue in the face of growing economic needs, just  to satisfy political positions. 

Winners?   Office holders of course. 

Losers?   All the rest of the state. 

And I can’t figure out why voters keep sending the same folks back to the legislature.   You would think there are men and women out there more concerned about the people of Oklahoma, than staying in office.Where are they?  Why aren’t they running for office?  Right now, our prisons are overcrowded, roads and bridges need major help, homeless shelters and soup kitchens are swamped and the state is looking at 1,000 teacher vacancies while classrooms are suffering from overcrowding and overworked, underpaid teachers that are left.   Student enrollment is growing and school districts are asking for record numbers of emergency teaching certificates to allow applicants who haven’t completed basic higher education and training requirements to enter the classroom.

Why are we short so many teachers?  Well teacher retirements are a part of the problem as are declining career interest.  Who would want to teach in Oklahoma when the candidate could accept a higher paying job with benefits,  in a neighboring state, where there is legislative teacher support.   A  job where part of their salary doesn’t have to be spent on school supplies to support the children they are trying to teach. Additionally, young graduates are turning away from a teaching career, because they see it as essentially a dead end in Oklahoma.    

That’s very sad and the legislature is to blame. I would say to the members of the legislature,… what we have here is a failure to pay attention to the needs of the state.   We need a serious change in your attitude toward education.  We also need better pay and benefits for teachers and those who would become teachers.   Drop political tax cuts that hurt,  rather than help the state.  

Here is something else you need to think about,… it is extremely difficult to teach a child that comes to school hungry.

Additionally, you need to stop telling teachers what and how to teach.  They are trained for that and you,… well, based on past performance in office, you need to get out of the way so our teachers and our  children can head for the future.

That’s my perspective.