Education: An Investment in Hawaii鈥檚 Future
Once upon a time, if you asked students nearing graduation what their plans were, there would be quite a few students, bright ones, who would say they wanted to teach.
Today? Forget it! It鈥檚 rare to hear a student, any student, say they would like to be a teacher.
And who can blame them? They鈥檝e seen teachers virtually branded as 鈥渂aby killers鈥 in the media by politicians with their perpetually short-term objective to please whomever they think they have to in order to get re-elected.
Students have seen their favorite teachers grow old toiling weekdays, weeknights, weekends, teaching, tutoring, advising, chaperoning, fundraising and caring for a community鈥檚 children, yet coming up short in time and money for their own.
They鈥檝e seen their least favorite teachers slowly smolder into burnout under the strain, withdrawing further and further until they fade into a retirement of vaguely remembered obscurity, completely out of touch with that optimism, that desire to make the world a better place, which so marked their entry into the teaching profession.
鈥淗ey Graduates? You up for that?鈥
鈥淣o, thanks. We鈥檒l pass鈥 they say, until all but the most desirous or least observant pass. And then what? Oh, that鈥檚 right! TV education! Online education! Email us your worksheets and we鈥檒l email you a diploma! Very cost effective in the brave new business world of education.
On the other hand, what if there is a value to teachers that should be recognized, even cultivated? What if children, people, actually needed people? What if we need human contact, a smile of approval on a job well done or a stern look that says, 鈥淚 know you鈥檙e capable of better?”
What if we treated teachers with respect for their service and sacrifice to our citizens, to our democracy, in a way akin to that which we now accord our military service people? What if young people saw teaching as a valid profession worthy of their dedication? What if the desire to make the world a better place was considered an honorable pursuit rather than a degrading waste of one鈥檚 time?
What could be then? A populace intellectually capable with a penchant for self-improvement, that鈥檚 what. A profession of education respected drawing our best and brightest into the cause. A generational cycle in which each passes the torch to the next in a perpetual drive to leave the world a little better than it was before. Could be. But it requires a longer view than that provided by the next election or the next quarter鈥檚 bottom line. And it鈥檚 only hard to imagine if one only follows a media dominated by politicians鈥 sound bites.
We need vision. We need to invest in our people who need education and teachers as they need healthcare and doctors. We need bright young people to see teaching as a first-choice profession rather than a worst-case fallback plan or simply not worth the trouble at all.
And when they become teachers, we need to treat them with respect and provide them, to the greatest extent possible, with a living commensurate with their contribution to society. We need to assign them a reasonable workload that can be done, a workload that will not cause them to leave the profession in five years or less.
Is there a cost for this vision? Of course. But to quote Derek Bok, two-time president of Harvard University, 鈥淚f you think education is expensive, try ignorance.鈥
Folks, look around. It鈥檚 in the news every day. The societal costs of ignorance are huge and rising faster than the cost of a college education. Greater investment in education will pay off in a more employable populace, less crime, a lower incarceration rate and a higher quality of life for all. Not to mention a better reputation for Hawaii as a visitor destination.
But it鈥檚 not just a matter of monetary investment. In fact, what is needed most is an investment of social esteem. When the profession of teaching is battered publicly for whatever reason, Education is also demeaned. And when that happens, it鈥檚 awfully hard to convince our young people of the importance of Education and the validity of pursuing teaching as an occupation. We are caught in a cultural downward spiral that must be reversed.
Our future rests in the quality of Education we provide our citizens. Is Hawaii not worth the investment?
About the author: John Casey Carpenter has worked with Hawaii’s youth for almost 30 years. Five years with the non-profit agency Hale Kipa on O’ahu in the 80’s and 24 years in the DOE as a counselor and fill-in administrator from K – 12 on the Big Island while he and his wife have raised three sons who each attended public schools.
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