November 23, 2005

Patterns

By Kay Brooks
One of the first lessons my children got in mathematics was to look for patterns. I explained to them that finding those patterns will help them find the correct answers. This week I realized I'm seeing some patterns in our society, mirrored in our schools, that are very troubling.

I see state legislators playing fast and loose with their responsibility to taxpayers. I read the phrase business as usual in Nashville used by legislators to shrug off at least questionable and often inexcusable behavior. They party with lobbyists and accept cash from those doing business with the state for their own entertainment.

And I read that Nashville's School Director has utilized precious funds for his own entertainment and comfort. and further that middle school athletic programs costing over a million dollars are apparently essential to fulfill the state's responsibility to educate a child.

Let's not confuse the business of government or the education of children with entertainment. They're both important WORK.

I see employee costs, based on time in service and not actual worth, eating up the incentive and value of our businesses to a point that it bankrupts them. GM is laying off 30,000 employees and blaming health costs and the employee union blaming bad designs and management. The local teacher's union is demanding more when taxpayers have said there isn't more to give and increased value hasn't been proven and those charged with overseeing the whole mess saying they have mixed emotions about the issue as if feeling good about anything equals quality leadership.

Will insistence on these pay raises, benefits and tenure eventually bankrupt our public schools ala General Motors?

Unlike math, these patterns don't lead to the right answer. They do lead to errors and ones that need serious immediate attention.

What these all seem to have in common is lack of accountability and desperate attempts at controlling what isn't theirs to control. Our legislators and school personnel will allow that they are public servants but if we require them to submit to our authority, even in the small things, too many of them howl and are offended at the mere suggestion. They're the experts they tell us, all the while mishandling the job and forgetting that every dime they spend is one we can't use to buy essentials for our own families.

In the meantime, what sort of patterns do our children see and what are they learning from their observations?