BY RUSSELL TURNER

 

MORE KOOL AID

 

All of us know the need for our children to be well educated in today’s world. Every day we are continually bombarded with news stories that claim that more money needs to be spent on education. While some additional funds can make a difference, we do not need to blindly follow the assumption that money is the only answer to our education needs. Recently I read about a bill that is making its way through the legislature, the proponents of House Bill 2155 are promoting it as a cure all to the education system in the state of Oklahoma. Before we start to drink the Kool Aid we need to remind ourselves of some facts of where we are and where we came from as a free nation. 

 

HB 2155 claims to prepare students for the challenges of college and high-skill industry certification through the use of Individual Career and Academic Plans (ICAPs). HB 2155 would phase in ICAPs over a three-year period and become a graduation requirement beginning for 9th-graders in the 2019-2020 school year. School wide implementation would be coordinated among a team of educators, including counselors and teachers. The supporters of ICAPs claim they will ensure all students are given opportunities to explore and plan for postsecondary career pathways that reflect their emerging strengths, passions, and college and life goals. The supporters also claim that ICAPs will ensure every student has a personalized plan to build the necessary academic, technical and employability skills to meet their career and academic aspirations. While all of claims sound good, there are some things we need to think about.

 

From what I have read this new idea will increase the bureaucracy in our education system and consequently the cost. What will be the cost of hiring more counselors and people to run the system? The program is supposed to begin with children in the 9^th grade; I have found that most 9^th graders don’t have the maturity to know what their life’s career will be. In my day the purpose of the education system was to help children form the foundation of basic skills that will serve them whatever profession they choose to enter. If you plan to attend college, enlist in the military, or learn a trade the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are essential. It is a sad fact that here in Oklahoma many of our high school graduates must take remedial courses in reading when they enroll in college, also students graduating from high school no longer have to pass the End of Instruction (EOI) test in order to graduate. 

 

In the former Soviet Union at a very early age children were sorted out to what careers they would have throughout their lives, history already shows how successful that experiment was. In a free society it is the duty of the parents and their children to make that decision. Ask yourself a simple question, how did this country ever obtain the greatness we once had without the government being involved in making cradle to grave decisions for our citizens? I believe if we provide the basics and stress their importance our citizens have the ability to live their lives without constant government involvement. Before we take a big gulp of the Kool Aid we need to see what is in it.