Hometown Education Blues

I’m back in the town where I grew up, a town all of my siblings and I, and most of our friends, left after high school. One of the things that helped us leave town was the education we got, which I always felt was pretty good. The Dakotas used to have relatively good ACT scores (that’s the college admission test we take out here), and I had a number of teachers who I respected, and knew their subjects. The German and Scandinavian immigrants that settled here used to value education.

Yesterday, I went to a charity fundraiser and ran into the father of one of my high school friends. He’s a smart guy, lifelong Democrat, and active in the community. We talked about the current state of the local schools, and it’s bad. Teacher salaries are low, but housing is actually fairly expensive. It’s a desirable place to retire if you can stand the winters, so there’s not a lot of housing inventory on the market. And the apartments are nothing to write home about. So, the invisible hand dictates that it’s hard to hire teachers, especially for science and math.

This means that the science and math classes are taught via “e-learning” — a “master teacher” teaches them via video conference. A e-learning facilitator is in the room with the students. Another friend who’s a teacher was at the event, and he told me that the quality of education received in the e-learning sessions was variable. If the facilitator is paying attention, after one year of seeing the material taught, they basically learn it and can help the students in one-on-one sessions. If the facilitator doesn’t give a shit, well, then it’s like watching a YouTube video.

My friend’s father also told me about an incident where a Lakota teacher was a guest at the school and said something controversial. (One of the political dynamics of my home town is that it borders a reservation.) Some community members made a stink, so a principal was fired and the superintendent’s job is in danger. This is in a town where there’s an increasing number of Lakota students, because tribe members move off of the reservation to the town because there are jobs here. When I was a kid, the town was lily white. Now, it’s probably half Native American, and school enrollment reflects that. As with many “economically insecure” whites, they want the labor of the brown people, they just don't want to be around them, or have them partake in the economy.

The net of all of this is that a school that was a point of pride for the community two generations ago, a school that graduated kids who became doctors, lawyers and engineers — a school that punched way above its weight — is now, at best, mediocre. This is what happens when you don’t want to fund education.

I’m using Kay’s picture of her childhood school for this post, because back when we were younger, they all looked the same. Obviously, Kay got a good education at her school. I did, too. There are still some kids who get good educations at the local schools in my home town, but those kids have highly motivated parents and good home environments. The rest, well, they get to watch videos.