Ground-Breaking Education

There was a Ground-Breaking Celebration yesterday in Lebanon for the new Grade School which is to replace the current well-aged and nearly crumbling structure. Though my work at the church yesterday prevented me from attending the celebration, I wish I had been there. Each of our children have passed through that building and benefited from those whose gift it has been to teach there and, by extension, Nancy and I have benefited from the instruction and presence of a place and time that has made it possible for our dreams for our children to come to fruition. Yet, not everyone feels this way.

It has been interesting to hear and read the response of some in our community this day who believe that, ". . . since we don't have kids in the schools we shouldn't have to pay for it.", conveying their disdain of their tax dollars being used for services they don't 'personally' receive. Hmmmmm, this got me to thinking . . . .

If one were to extrapolate that notion, I suspect these people are probably paying far too little in taxes. Let me explain: If we were to move to a system of paying taxes to support the services from which we receive direct benefit then, in all likelihood, we would have to be paying to get up in the morning and choose which cereal we eat, what coffee to drink, watch 'free' public television, get on the roads/streets/highways to go to the doctor/work/see our kids/shop, turn on the lights with electricity made possible by utility lines located on public grounds, and the list goes on and on. How do you historically extrapolate the value of an education? That your parents, and their parents, and their parents, and their parents before them could read because someone took the time to teach them how to read . . . or that you can figure out your grocery bill because someone taught you how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide . . . or that you can hold a job because someone, somewhere, taught you how to work hard and how to solve problems with creativity . . . is all the result of someone, somewhere, supporting the notion of education for the benefit of future generations - and provided an appropriate environment for that to happen. Each generation takes their turn in making possible for future generations what those before did for them.

From a religious perspective, what is the value of grace? What is the value of mercy? What is the value of forgiveness? What the value of light in the darkened sky? What is the value of shade from the hot Summer sun? What is the value of a windbreak from the Winter wind's howl? What is the value of water when you are thirsty? What is the value of food when you are hungry? What is the value of a cool breeze in July? What is the value of Spring rain? What is the value of Fall color? If God taxed humankind for such things, what would you and I have to pay? And, of these things, from which do you and I directly benefit? And what have we offered God in return?

If we are really to buy into the notion of 'paying taxes only for the services we personally receive', who among us could afford the life we live or the one we pray to live? Look around the world and take measure of nations and peoples who have little or no education. What is their lot in life? What choices and opportunities do they have? What dreams might they pursue? In this nation, we refer to such places as 'Third World Countries' for a reason: It is precisely because the cost of little or no education is immeasurably higher in human life, spirit and potential.

The very argument that some should be exempt from paying taxes for services from which they don't directly benefit regarding our educational system is an argument of convenient prosperity: they have already derived their benefit from the system and assume they no longer need it, therefore they no longer need support it for others. Oddly enough, those who make such an argument probably need the educational system now more than ever before, for clearly they have missed the civics lesson on mutual accountability and shared responsibility for the public good in advancing cultures.

Now, lest I be misunderstood, I am not giving a blank check to taxing bodies to do with whatever they want in providing buildings, lands, classes and equipment for a 'state of the art' educational system, but I am advocating that we all, everyone of us, have a vested interest in supporting the quality and place of the American educational system in this community. Not only does Lebanon need to keep moving forward in providing the best possible environment and educators for our children, but the world is depending on our doing it. If you don't believe it, do a careful review of those whom have graduated from Lebanon over the years . . . then assess the difference each of them has made in the world. Truly, it is incalculable.

When it comes to the place of education in our world, your children are our children and our children are your children . . . and the children to come are our children . . . just as those who were before us viewed and supported us as their children. Transforming Washington, D.C. or changing world power politics or making global advancements in the treatment of diseases begins - and is sustained by - the local educational system, and we are all continual recipients of what happens there. It is our privilege to continue providing such a gift to generations to come.