To the editor:

It’s not about efficiency; it’s about winning. That’s the strategy with top fuel racing. Burning fuel at 100 gallons per minute wins the race. You could drop a Prius drivetrain into your dragster and dramatically improve efficiency, but you’d lose.

Economic conditions being what they are, many people call for greater efficiency in public education. Fewer yet bigger schools, larger classes, consolidated districts, lower salaries and longer school days are a few ideas tossed out in the name of “efficiency.” But is “efficiency” really our goal, or do we want to win?

When we educate our youth, we are creating the future of our communities, our state and our nation. Tomorrow’s nation will be run by today’s children. Today’s children will build tomorrow’s economy, tomorrow’s national defense, tomorrow’s technologies, innovations and inventions — indeed everything that makes our nation strong. We have a choice.

We could choose “efficiency.” That is the easier choice, politically. And there is the convenient scapegoat of the recession, so we don’t even have to accept responsibility for shortchanging our future. But that choice leads to fewer skilled workers, less innovation, weaker businesses, and commensurately higher poverty, higher crime and incarceration, and ultimately a weaker nation.

If we expect to be a strong, competitive and contributing nation tomorrow, we must do whatever it takes today. That means sacrificing “efficiency” when it comes to public education. We must run top fuel, and we must win. Our future depends on it, and there are no second chances.

Let’s race.