Vote to support our schools, our teachers, and our kids

 I have a truckload of articles ready to submit and here I am again, starting another article after being inspired to respond to my friend’s column “Vote to support our schools, our teachers, and our kids”. This is an example where we agree in general, but the devil is in the details. Let me state clearly that I admire and appreciate good teachers. White County is blessed with an abundance of them. Unfortunately, we have a few bad ones, too. I have encountered both good and bad teachers as a student and a parent. When I was a student, I could see the expressions change on the good teachers’ faces when they dealt with me. The bad teachers’ expressions rarely changed. I could easily see the teachers who cared back then, and I can see it in the teachers my children have had.

In elementary school, my children were blessed to go to Cassville. I was as involved with their teachers as I was able. My involvement has dropped off as my children have gotten older and my health has gotten worse. I know many of the teachers, staff, and coaches in White County and can attest to their dedication, commitment, and caring. We are truly blessed! I believe our school system is amazing, but I don’t think it is perfect. I have many things that I would like to see implemented in our schools, and I wish that I could tweak the budget. Not that I could do a better job than those in charge. I just have some different ideas and priorities. Paying those good teachers more would top my list, followed by reopening Central View.

Our teachers are often put in bad positions because of mandates, but those mandates most often come from Washington, not Nashville. I don’t agree with everything our state legislature does concerning education, and I have some serious problems with things that Gov. Lee has done, especially involving COVID. I am not ready to vote any of them out of office over any of it yet. I like the idea of money being tied to the student. I don’t completely agree with everything that has been proposed on the matter, but I believe it is an acceptable start. I don’t believe that education should be one size fits all. I believe that most parents would choose our public schools, even if alternatives were affordable. I know several parents who homeschool their children. I support a parent’s right to educate their children as they want. I believe that a portion of the funds allocated for the education of their children should be available to cover the costs of the education they choose. I thought liberals supported choice. I guess it depends on whose choice and what choices they are making.

I don’t like the idea of banning books, but most of us agree that some content is inappropriate for certain age groups. I would bet that most teachers in White County know the contents of every book in their classrooms. I would also bet that none of those teachers have books that could be considered even slightly pornographic. This is not the case everywhere, though. We are fortunate we don’t have the same problems with social engineering programs that other school systems are dealing with. There are biology teachers who are told they must ignore the biological differences between a male and female. There are some elementary schools that have books in their libraries that are more pornographic than Penthouse Forum. Parents need to know what is happening in their schools. Study the political candidates’ positions on education. Yes, support our schools and teachers. Especially support our kids. This doesn’t mean you should passively accept every federal mandate, everything our public schools present, or that public schools should be the only publicly supported option. As always, think for yourself.