An Open Letter to the Citizens of South Carolina, Education Associations, S.C. Superintendent of Education, Members of the General Assembly and the Governor

By

Gary L. Burgess, Sr.

Superintendent, Anderson County School District Four

140 Miller Circle

Anderson, SC  29625

 

Keeping the public in public education

 

What type of South Carolina and America are we attempting to build?  One in which freedom rings within the boundaries of civic responsibility, or one in which our domestic tranquility is compromised with citizens suspect of one another?  Public education is indeed the greatest civic mission work in the world.

 

I am writing this letter in response to what I see as the potential demise of public education.  South Carolina and the United States of America have come a long way as a result of the mission of our public education system. 

 

The work of public education is both moral and civic.  It is about removing the shackles from the human mind.  It is about freeing the human spirit.  It is about providing a vibrant and rich education for the masses -- an education that allows the public (us) to be involved in the radical activity of thinking, of questioning, of asking why and what if, while understanding the need for law and order.  The work of public education is an awesome work. 

 

Public schools accept  all children, giving hope to many who would otherwise be without hope.  Public schools accept children that many of our Houses of Faith will not accept—red, yellow, black, brown, white, believers, unbelievers, poor, working poor, middle class, rich, physically-mentally-emotionally fragile, native born, naturalized, foreigners- the list goes on.  The public school is the only place in South Carolina where all of South Carolina meets. Indeed, the public school is the only place in America where all of America meets.

 

As citizens we must speak up and speak out in favor of public schools, regardless of which educational environments we work in or educate our children. Why? Because public schools are the only institutions purposefully designed to build and develop a cohesive public.  A civil and understanding public that is well-educated is to everyone’s benefit, regardless of their own personal choices of work or education. Public education is not the servant of politics, business or industry; it is the servant of America, in its ministry and mission of building a cohesive public that is literate and liberated.

 

I believe that as our State goes, so goes our Nation.  I encourage the citizens and elected officials in this state to celebrate the success of public education and to free the public education system of those laws and regulations that create its rigidity so that our system can be more competitive, flexible and responsive to parents and to the unique needs of each student.  Clemson University’s President Barker makes a compelling argument in stating, “We must be more thoughtful about the role we ascribe to public education.  The alternative is to lose the very core of our economy, our social structure and our way of life in America.”

 

We must not blame our public schools for the advantage of a privileged few, many of whom have over-regulated the public schools with rules that are contrary to learning -- only to then declare that public schools are not working because public schools lack flexibility.  They  propose to give money to schools that are less regulated -- private, parochial, and religious schools.  Many of these same people will not send their children to the public schools that they have over-regulated, sending them instead to private schools and other learning environments where learning and leadership are valued over regulating and testing.

 

We must pledge not to collude covertly or overtly with those who would harm one of American’s greatest institutions -- her public schools -- thereby hurting her most valuable resource, our children.  Public schools must be funded by public dollars, because public schools exist for the good of the public.  South Carolina cannot afford a third school system funded by public dollars that will be inherently separate and unequal. I have respect for individuals who choose to educate their children elsewhere; my older brother made such a choice with his youngest daughter, who attended Christian school. (Yes, we are Christians!)  However, he financed it.

 

The public school is the only institution in our society charged with building and developing a public – not the church, not the temple, not the mosque, not the private, parochial or home school, not the family- only the public school.

 

The mission of the public school is substantively different than any other institution.  It is about the public, purposely designed for the good of the public- building a cohesive and forward moving progressive public, pushing the boundaries of democracy to be ever more inclusive so that we can insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity as is stated in the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. 

 

Let’s pledge to make public education in South Carolina a model for the nation.  We can do this; historically in South Carolina, working together, we have overcome many economic, political and social obstacles.

 

 

This article is presented here with the permission of the author.