Education essential to future

We should think twice about indiscriminatingly slashing school budgets. More than ever, we need education in new and important ways. Here are two examples.

  1. The ongoing economic news is mixed. Stock market and employment figures rise but housing prices continue their frightening slide Five million homes have been lost to foreclosure since 2006 and some foresee another three million in the coming three or four years. Retirement funds and savings plans are volatile.

We need to always remember that these data are made up of personal stories, the real lives of our friends and neighbors.

This already difficult situation is compounded by uncertainty. The experts, pundits, commentators, and average investors are befuddled. No one knows what the future holds.

Responsibility for calming the waters rests primarily with government and business. But one lesson of the past few years is that we consumers need to better understand where to invest our money and the financial risks we take.

The only institutions that can provide universal understanding are our schools and colleges. We must look to them to help each and every one of us understand the fundamentals of the financial system, both personal responsibility and where to hold government and business responsible. While both complex and unpredictable, and it is in the best interests of the nation to do so.

Community colleges are starting to answer these questions, but they need the cooperation of public schools and the four-year colleges and universities.

  1. America deserves high praise for the way it handled Osama bin Laden. It was a striking victory for the war on terrorism and also displayed sensitivity to other cultures. His burial was both appropriate and necessary, and showed respect for the more than 1 billion Muslims around the globe. It explains, in no small way, why Muslim criticism was muted.

Clearly, we now live in a world where it is essential that understanding other cultures and being sensitive about differences becomes part of our daily lives. With technology and new forms of mass communication, we have immediate access to messages sent around the globe.

Stable and productive government and business relationships in the modern world will be increasingly based on knowledge and understanding of other cultures. There are few excuses for cultural gaffes on the unforgiving international front.

This need for cultural understanding is equally important within our nation. A new report by the College Board tells a startling and compelling story: more than 15 million children of immigrants in our schools, a number that has doubled since 1990; more than 5 million English language learner students, speaking 400 languages; and 12.5 percent of the total population is foreign born.

While the United States has had significant immigration since the 16th century, the world has changed in countless ways in the last 400 years. Access to transportation and information make us a nation of many cultures, every one contributing to a common set of shared principles.

And where do we gain an understanding of these principles? Where do we learn about the many differences and similarities? Where do we learn about foreign cultures?

There are a growing number of changes in our world and relevant education is, in a word, essential. The matter is time-sensitive. Let’s think long and hard about cutting education.