There is so much crappiness in the news today that it is easy to let the cynical mind control the keyboard. Instead, I shut down my media and look down the road in the direction of our local school. It is mid-May, seniors are finishing finals, all other students are wrapping up their academic year, and the sun is shining. Loose the graduates, promote undergraduates to their new grade level, and celebrate another year of educating children, I say.
What do I know?
I drive a small, red, two-seat sports car every afternoon to the post office for my daily mail. Yesterday a herd of first graders was trekking uphill on the sidewalk returning to school from a mid-day, local field trip. As I drove past, several dozen arms and voices rose to wave and yell, “Nice car!”. I stuck my arm out the window to return their wave with a wide smile. In seconds I was past them. But our town is small and in minutes I was returning home, this time on the other side of the road. As I re-approached these small fry, I heard, “There he is again!” Even more shouts and waves ensued and all I could think was “what a great day to be six and seven years old”. And all thoughts of a crappy world were dissolved.
In my comings and goings, I see these children and their schoolmates dropped off by parents or school buses to engage in their daily education. I see them at recess and in their on-campus activities. Our community is proud of our schools and teachers and school leaders whose work annually merits recognition as one of the highest achieving schools in Wisconsin. And there are schools like ours throughout our state and nation. Thankfully, they are the antidote we sorely need.
At this time of the year our high school celebrates its graduates by posting their post-graduation plans on FaceBook. Bright faces appear above their declared plans. Some wear a sweatshirt or hold a pennant from the college or university or tech school they will attend. Several proudly display their enlistment in the military; others declare their post-high school vocational plans. A couple of students are yet undecided in what the next year will be for them. No matter their post-high school plans, these grads are well-educated and ready for what comes next in their young adult lives. They are ready to be part of the adult world.
Our future lives in the small fry.
No matter a person’s political persuasion, there is reason to be skeptical that today’s leaders will find their way out of the chaos and disrepute they have created. We are in a train wreck and there are more burdened trains coming down the track.
We have 70- and 80-year olds in positions of power who have difficulty marshaling the smarts of a 5th grader. They talk like they are constantly arguing turf on a child’s playground where the blame game is all that matters. And we have 40- and 50-year old leaders who would rather be sycophants than free thinking adults.
Looking for analogous models I like what happens in a face off in a hockey game. One player from each team faces the other waiting for the ref to drop the puck. They snarl and paw the ice with their sticks. However, if the ref does not like the attitude of these two to battle for the puck, the ref tells them to go away and calls for two other players to do the face off. What a great model! When a player is out of line, get another player. The Class of 24 now is in the line of next players. And behind them in our 4K-12 schools are the Classes of 25 through 39.
In the last century, critics of public education referred to the march of children through the grades as a school factory. Perhaps they were right when most children, graduated or not, were funneled into the industrial complex. Today that reference is balderdash. Our graduates are very aware of the chaos and confusion their elders have created. They are informed and they are spreading out into a myriad of potential careers. This is not to say the Class of 24 and beyond will not create new problems. They will, but today I trust them and their potential to do better far more than I trust my age peers.
Perhaps it is time for term limits and age limits and dope slap limits. For the sake of our next generations, we need to say to out-of-control and out-of-touch leaders “go away” and call for new faces and newer minds to battle with the issues of our day.
I believe that the Class of 24 and those six- and seven-year-olds with their exuberance and bright minds are our best and perhaps last chances for better tomorrows. Loose the grads or forever hold your breath.