I am concerned about the recent community pressure to limit what not only students but also teachers can be exposed to in the context of our local public schools.
My wife, Beth, and I have been involved in education in one way or another for most of our adult lives and have always thought of education as a process of broadening the horizons of the children and young adults of a community. This includes learning about parts of the world outside of our community. It includes understanding other cultures and how they perceive the world. It includes an understanding of history and government, especially the basic principles of democracy. It also includes the process of socialization, learning about citizenship and about how to interact with others, especially those who might come from different backgrounds It, of course, is also about learning basic skills like reading and mathematics as well as logical and critical thinking.
To the degree that we restrict information about the outside world that is allowed within our public schools, we defeat those schools educational purpose and we begin down the slippery slope toward indoctrination, not education.
The world is now, and always has been, dynamic. It is changing constantly, and it is crucial that our teachers and students have access to the latest ideas and information. Teachers and schools can provide a safe environment in which students can learn to put the new information into context that can form a basis for them to understand the world and to find ways to operate within that world effectively.
Public education has little room for decisions made in fear or from some sense of paranoia.
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Let our public education continue to be broad and deep in preparing our young people for a changing world.
Bob Passi
Baxter
