Class Reaction-April 8

I was surprised last night when Dr. Pope said that our state constitution only offers a minimal education. He pointed out that the right of education is not offered in the constitution. It should be obvious. I know that health care is also not a right. Americans often just assume that in our prosperous country both education and health care are rights, but in many ways they are both still priveleges. After viewing the Corridor of Shame and hearing the story of the little girl at Obama's inauguration, I am a little embarrased about our state's educational system. On reflection, I don't know why. We have always been ranked near the bottom. The past twenty years I have seen so much progress in our public school system. Rock Hill offers the IB program and its graduates can compete with some of the best students from academically renowned private high schools. I vacationed with a couple from Philadelphia, and they told me that their daughter had to explain why she did not participate in the IB program at her public high school when interviewing at Ivey League colleges. I was proud to say that our town did offer this program. I was starting to believe that our state is actually progressing in the public education arena.

Our state constitution does reflect the attitude of South Carolina. I was in elementary schooll in the 1960's. The state complied with the law, but the politically powerful people just removed their children and started private schools. The attitude was that the public schools provided free government education. If you wanted more for your child, you had to pay for it. It was nice to send my own children to public schools. They went to school with my doctor's children and the children of the lady who got my coffee at McDonald's. They received a great academic education as well as an education on the diversity of society. Our present economic climate might force a real analysis of what education means to this state. Are we going to go backward to the way it was in 1970? If it does, we will see those with the money just start new avenues to make sure their children receive a proper education.

Perhaps next week when we view school choice, we will learn more about these options. If things continue, I predict that other ways of gaining education will grow. The good news is that there will always be a need for effective teachers, it just might not be in the setting we have viewed in the past decade. It will be interesting to watch.