By Mark
I was hired for my first teaching job when I was 23 years old. One of the first pieces of advice I received–which puzzled me–was to begin to plan immediately for retirement. More seasoned adults in my life were peppering me with questions like How much of my monthly salary was I willing to sock away? What was my personal savings plan? At what age did I want to retire?
Please, people! I thought. I'm twenty-three. Retirement is thirty years away (if I'm lucky). Why do I need to be thinking that far into the future?
The answer is obvious to me now that I've grown up a little. If I don't plan now for then, when then finally comes I'll be scrambling, cutting corners, going without or trying to stretch a dime till it shreds.
My shop teacher used to sum it up this way: "Don't let a lack of planning on your part become an emergency on mine."
Unless we want education (and our economy, for that matter) to persist in a perpetual state of emergency, we need to plan ahead.
As the next legislative session begins mulling where and how to make the cuts, it will seem all too easy to hack away at the massive proportion of the state budget which goes to public education. However, just as 23-year-old me needed that advice to sock away 10% or more of my monthly income for a rainy day 30 years away, our leaders need to be reminded that fully funding education is not an expenditure, it is an investment.
I whole-heartedly believe that how we prepare five and six year olds with critical literacy, mathematics, and science (to name just some) will help determine the kind of economy we will have in a few decades. If we're not willing to make tough decisions now and plan ahead, the emergency will be theirs, and we should want more for our children and our communities.
That line should have read “have changed very little for the better.”
I don’t mean to sound bitter, but secondary schools have heard the same thing for years: “Wait a while, and we’ll get to you.” We realize now it’s never gonna happen.
I’ve heard and seen all the statistics out there about investing in k-4, but the kids coming to me at the high school have changed very little. In fact, I was in a recent meeting at the district office where, across the board, everyone is in agreement that the skills and content knowledge of our 9th graders is the lowest we’ve ever seen.
This can’t be blamed on any one factor, but I have stopped believing that my job will ever get easier at the high school level.
Ah, well. Maybe I’m just bitter and cynical about how much work I put into helping the ed. jobs bill to pass and then watching the state cheat education out of the money.
Aha, Tom, but they WILL be wanting social security and medicare in their old age. They would be wise to ensure the generation who will support their final years is earning an income instead of lining up for welfare and medicaid.
I haven’t followed up on this rumor, but I’ve heard from more than one shocked educator and parent that there’s a kindergarten in Seattle, at Orca, with 34 kids in it. 34 kids in a kindergarten?
Please. I have a difficult time imagining what my workload is going to be in 9 years when those kids are in my class.
Put the money in elementary. Turn out a few years of children who are well educated. If secondary can simply wait a few years, we’ll see the payoffs in huge ways.
Well put, Mark. Unfortunately, none of the lawmakers will be in office anymore by the time their non-investment in education doesn’t pay off.
Kristin, a month ago I would have staunchly disagreed with your focus on letting secondary take the brunt of the cuts, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. We need to preserve and support the lower grades so that the work they sow is reaped in a few years…you’re exactly right.
I think part of this mindset is establishing procedures and practices that will create positive results. Lately policy-makers from the district to the state to the national level have put the spotlight on secondary education – raise the test scores! reduce drop outs! create college graduates!
Meanwhile, pre-K and elementary programs are being slashed, tossed around in ever-changing strategies, and understaffed.
If we’re short of money, and we are, then the legislature needs to first FULLY FUND pre-K and elementary education. Make NO cuts there. In fact, increase resources. Five years from now, when those kids get to middle school, they will be better prepared to succeed, and won’t be floundering away in secondary because there’s a shortage of psychologists, drug counselors, tutors, truancy counselors, security guards, and all the other things that suck money out of secondary.
Planning for retirement makes a very nice analogy for this situation. Your word choice of education as an investment, not an expenditure, is also great–and probably one of the most powerful overall arguments for education as the legislature makes decisions about state programs this session.