School Taxes? To Capitulate or Not to Capitulate.

I just read another news article about a budget proposal that includes cutting middle school athletics, much of the arts and music programs, and an assortment of other 'non-essential' courses. However, what struck me was a subsequent comment on the website that carried the article: essentially the citizen called agreement to a tax increase 'capitualtion' to the spendthrift, irresponsive school board.

In the interest of brevity, I sanction capitulation. Currently, most external sources report that our students in the US are inadequately prepared to compete on the world stage. Nevertheless, the US is one of the prime importers of students who are trained in our universities. These two pieces of information seem contradictory, right?

US students are reportedly still superior in only one regard - creativity and ingenuity in tackling problems. If you don't believe me, please check out Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. Despite our academic failures, many cultures are trying to replicate American creativity and ingenuity in their educational plans. They are having rousing success in teaching upper level science and math, and their students' appreciation of social studies' issues are likewise impressive. What they are having trouble with is teaching students to think outside the box.

I say capitulate - and keep the one and only feature of American education that is currently thriving. The loss of the 'non-essential' courses, such as music and the arts, will directly affect the only strategic advantage that our students currently have. Similarly, I contend that some/much of that ingenuity is nurtured by our competitiveness, thereby endorsing the continued investment in sports activities and band competitions.

Capitulate, capitulate, capitulate! If we strip our ineffective educational program down to the essentials - math, English, science, and social studies - programs that we know are lagging behind our international competitors, then we are consciously choosing to give up any hope we have of staying competitive while we fix those programs.

How have I reached the conclusions I have reached, you might ask. Logic. The significant difference between the American educational experience and that of most other countries is our investment in a wide assortment of experiences, from music to art, to technology, to athletics. Additionally, our obsession with competition, especially on the athletic fields, represents the other most notable difference.

If we are falling behind - and we are - and the divergence of opportunity is the one thing keeping us in the race at all, then cutting the educational program is long term idiocy.

I am all for frugality, and for cost-cutting, and for financial oversight. What is happening to our schools in the face of the current budget crisis, however, stands to cripple our chances of staying in the game while we address the funding issues.

Capitulate, because failure to do so may very well help the sky to fall. No kidding. The situation is that serious.