Schools, Education, and the Economy

There are 124 school corporations in Indiana with a per capita income falling between $15,000 and $20,000 as noted in the IN DOE database from US Census Bureau statistics. I chose to look at the population based on per capita income because these are the people who live as we do within the Clay Community Schools Corporation area. Within that population you will find the following school corporations located in neighboring counties; Bloomfield School District, Cloverdale Community Schools, Eastern Greene Schools, Knox Community School Corp, North Knox School Corp, North Putnam Community Schools, Shoals Community School Corp, South Knox School Corp, South Putnam Community Schools, Southwest Parke Com School Corp, Spencer-Owen Community Schools, Turkey Run Community School Corp, White River Valley School Dist, along with over a hundred more scattered all across the State of Indiana. Perhaps you noted the fact that the Metropolitan School District of Shakamak is not among these; the reason being that the per capita income in that corporation is less than $15,000.

While we have a lot in common with these neighbors, people appear to forget that we have a different situation and are therefore unique also. Not one other school corporation in the state is exactly like us.

Within the group of 124, Clay Community Schools Corporation ranks in a tie for third in number of schools with 10, fourth in enrollment, 28th in percent of students receiving free lunch and textbooks, 98th in per capita income, 8th in assessed value, and sixth in square miles of area. Boiling that down, it means that we have to do a lot with a little money.

One ranking that is particularly troubling to me is our per capita income, which is figured by the U.S. Census Bureau every ten years. It was last figured at $16,472 in 1999 and will increase in 2009 due to inflation; however, the increase will not mean that there is really an increase in available money. Actually, with the loss of jobs within the corporation's borders and the surrounding areas, I'm going to be surprised if the numbers go upwards to over $17,000. Likewise, I expect our families living below the poverty level figure of 10 percent to exceed 15 percent, at the least.

The world and the nation have changed since the Great Depression of the 1930s. With the advent of technology, the communities of the globe are closer today than the communities within the nation were in 1939; not in actual distance but in the ability to interact. This means that, should the "bottom fall out" of the economy here in the US and drag the world down with us, the likelihood of success of a national program to provide employment for the unemployed such as the Works Progress Administration would be lessened if our population is less educated than the rest of the world. When it is cheaper to have your accounting done over the Internet than to have it done by the CPA on Main Street, who is going to get the money? I have been dealing these last few days with some computer problems, but I have not been interacting with people located in the United States. We simply must improve our standing in education as compared to the rest of the globe and that is hampered in this community by a lack of money and the spending of education dollars on items that do not contribute to academic advancement.

We need to push our children to learn more than we ever did, just for them to maintain our standard of living. The wage that my father fed me on would not feed my son and what it takes to feed him will not feed my grandchild. If we do not exceed the last generation's earnings, we risk dropping below the poverty line or even starving.

Change is never easy but there comes a time when change is needed. Education in America needs to change. Distance learning, i.e. classes over the Internet, is used in colleges and can be used at the high school level to offer classes that a school corporation does not have the number of students involved or cannot afford to hire a teacher to teach; especially if more than one school corporation participates and shares the costs. We need to take that leap, especially with our Advanced Placement courses. We need to break out of the thought process that says that education is what goes on inside a certain building and understand that education happens wherever the student learns.

Just some thoughts……….lol…………….. I've not been myself lately. My back has acted up, my pain medication isn't working, and between Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Microsoft, I've been having TOO MUCH FUN! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and enjoys a Happy New Year.

Leo L. Southworth

leosouthworth@gmail.com