Free public education, open to all, is what sets us apart

Throughout the generations, public education has been a target of criticism from a wide array of sources: from politicians hoping to promote an agenda, from individuals who seek to privatize the operation, from those who have no children in school and see little reason to support the system, from critics alleging the curriculum is too rigid, too easy, too rigorous, too narrow, too broad, or just plain too expensive.

Though the criticisms are often contradictory, a case could be made that there is some small measure of merit in all of them. But there is a larger, more important truth: that public education is the glue that has bound our citizens together and formed the foundation for our democracy from the very birth of our nation.

A secular, non-ideological public education system, available to all, is what separates free nations from others. That’s why it’s a good idea to remind ourselves why public education is so very vital and why it is actually doing so very well.

This nation was created on the premise of free public education for all. Our founding fathers believed it was the duty of all adults in a community to provide an education for all the area’s children. The premise was that a community is healthiest when its children are well educated so that they can carry on the community’s responsibilities when they are adults. That is every bit the case today as well.

There are many ways that parents can secure an excellent education for their children, in both a public and a private school setting. This takes nothing away from our obligation as members of a democracy to support public schools, because the well-being of the nation depends on the decisions of an educated, informed electorate.

Every dollar spent to keep a child in school reduces the future costs of welfare, prison, and intervention services that correlate so highly with school dropouts.

It is primarily the egalitarian nature of public schooling that makes it so very cherished in a democracy. Public schools take all comers: the disabled, the gifted, the happy, and the malcontent. They take the shy and the aggressive, the poor and the rich, those who speak different languages, and those who do not speak at all.

We will succeed as a society as long as we serve all our children.

We must remember that there is nobility in work, no matter what its nature, and that we must prepare all children for a future of dignity and satisfaction.

We must serve those who will be architects and those who will use their hands to turn blueprints into structures of steel and stone. We must serve the engineers who will design ever-more-efficient and safer automobiles, and those who will build them and repair them. We must provide an excellent education to those who will research agricultural production methods and those who will do the planting and the reaping, the cooking and the cleaning. Though the future will hold high tech jobs in fields we cannot yet imagine it will also support a service industry for those who still find dignity in working with their hands. We must serve everyone.

Our schools are a true melting pot, bringing together young people from every background and walk of life; within the walls of the classroom all that counts is merit. Public schools have always been the strength of this nation, throughout its history.

We must work together to support a system of public education that is unique on earth. We lead the world in manufacturing, agriculture, the arts, the sciences, the military, technology, research — and we must remember that we have our public schools to thank for it.