This from Bill Ellis in the
Herald-Leader:
Congratulations to the Herald-Leader for its long-running
"50 Years of Night" series about the seemingly intractable problems of
Eastern Kentucky. The research was extensive, the writing crisp and the
conclusions inescapable.
 |
| Bill Ellis |
Historically, education has been the
way out of poverty, for rising to the middle class and toward a
fulfilling career. The same issues are always before us. One thing I
learned in writing A History of Education in Kentucky is that the problems have always been about equity and equality.
Simply
stated, since the pioneer days in Kentucky, if you came from a
middle-class family, were white and lived in or near an urban area, you
had a much better chance for an adequate, if not excellent, public or
private school education.
Notwithstanding the Minimum Foundation
Program, the Kentucky Education Reform Act and Senate Bill 1, public
school funding in Kentucky has devolved again to place the poorer
counties in the "problem crescent" at a distinct disadvantage. It is as
if we have not learned anything in 200-plus years of history in
Kentucky.
Money is not the only measure of improving education, but it is and always will be one of the prime features of this process.
Harry Caudill, author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands,
finally became so despondent over the inequities, nepotism and teaching
incompetencies that he despaired of ever changing the education climate
in Eastern Kentucky. He, like many others, essentially gave up.
The
inequalities of race and gender have changed over the years.
African-Americans, who are also among the poorest Kentuckians, still
suffer. Females, on the other hand, generally have surpassed males to
gain the most from educational opportunities. They graduate at higher
rates from high schools, colleges, universities and graduate schools
than their male counterparts. In effect, we are losing an entire
generation of young men — black and white, mostly from poorer families —
to their not having even a minimum of educational attainment in a
vastly changed society from that of their fathers and grandfathers.
I
spoke recently to high-school students who plan to become teachers.
When I asked those who had been inspired to become a teacher by one of
their recent instructors to raise their hands, too many did not.
Improved
teacher education and retention of the best teachers should be the
highest priorities of Kentucky's colleges of education and the public
schools.
There have always been heroes and heroines who wanted to
improve education for all the citizens. Recent Herald-Leader pieces
highlighted the efforts of some of these leaders today. There have
always been teachers and administrators in Eastern Kentucky who have
worked diligently to improve the fate of their students. We need to find
more ways to increase their numbers. We have lost Tom Clark, Bert Combs
and Bob Sexton. Are their counterparts today equal to the task?
Gov.
Steve Beshear and the 2014 General Assembly have an opportunity to get
us back on track. The tax structure of Kentucky needs to be changed,
pure and simple.
Will groups like the Kentucky Chamber of
Commerce; banking; businesses, including equine, agriculture and coal,
step up and put aside their special agendas, pressuring state government
to do the right thing? I, like many other Kentuckians, believe they can
do it with a groundswell of popular will to make great changes.
So
many questions remain. Will the recent federal Race to the Top grant
help prepare Kentucky's most at risk pre-school children for their
futures as leaders of the state?
Otherwise, will it be like that
great philosopher Yogi Berra once said: "It feels like déjà vu all over
again," as we descend deeper into "the Night," not only in Eastern
Kentucky but in all the regions of the state, even the vaunted Golden
Triangle?
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/01/13/3031208/william-e-ellis-equity-in-education.html#storylink=cpy
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