About the time National Geographic wrote about North Dakota as a state in irreversible decline, a "Quality Counts" report by Education Week was released criticizing how poorly the North Dakota public school system performed in several categories.
Within the same time frame, Ellen-Earle Chaffee in her column in The Forum provided this perspective: "Our higher education system is one of the five most productive in the nation. But our institutions have only 53 cents on the dollar per student compared to their peers, salaries are dead last, state aid to students is low, and facilities are deteriorating."
Education in the United States is fraught with oversight. Federal, state and local laws and regulations abound. Teachers' unions are part of the fray. More and more frequently we read about confrontations between teachers and administrators and administrators and school boards or legislatures. The process of teaching our children should not be so adversarial. The focus should be on what is best for the children.
Whether we like it or not, our children will be competing in a global economy. Repetitive and routine tasks are being outsourced to countries with lower wage scales. A quality education that instills in students the skills needed to excel at nonroutine and nonrepetitive jobs is vital. Statistically, employees with those skills earn more and have more job security.
Increasing the salaries of the presidents of the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University came about as an acknowledgement of the good job they are doing and the need to pay those in education a more competitive wage. Wage scales for all teachers need to be reviewed and upgraded. The other areas of deficiency Chaffee identified also must be studied and addressed to ensure a North Dakota education simply is not a resume item for a job in another state.
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Henry B. Adams reminds us, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." Teachers should be encouraged to be innovative, to challenge students to stretch their minds and to be the influence that piques their curiosity. Let us give those who teach our children the means and facilities to make their education experience a most memorable and productive one.
Terry Paulson, Fargo, Letter: A quality education vital for our future 20080119
