Churches Supporting Public Education

Ethics Daily has an excellent piece today on a group of religious folk working to support public education -- and by public education we mean state sponsored education that is open to everyone!

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Carolyn Crowder, an executive committee member of the National Education Association and 25-year teacher in Mustang, Okla., said every child deserves a great public school, but educators can't make it happen alone.

She told of establishing a relationship and making progress with one troubled fifth grader and years later seeing him on television in shackles and a jail jumpsuit charged with killing a store clerk. Imprisoned for life at age 16, Crowder said, the state spent $5,000 a year on Nathan in school and now spends $30,000 a year to keep him in prison.

The tragedy, Crowder said, is that Nathan was reachable. "Great public schools don't just benefit the student," she said. "They benefit everyone, and without them we all lose."

This last sentence is what Andrew Sullivan likes to call a "money quote." And it's spot on!

Comments

Mike L. said…
Another good post from Pastor Bob!

I have been thinking lately that if we could convince all the Christian parents that are fleeing the public schools in order to homeschool their kids to instead invest that same amount of time into their child's public classrooms then the entire community would benefit. Imagine what schools would look like with 2 or 3 volunteers per class to help tutor and manage kids.
Robert Cornwall said…
Yes, wouldn't that be nice. And maybe retirees from churches could volunteer, not to convert kids, but just to listen to them read and help with their math. Teachers would love it!

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