Good lessons instilled on value of education

Education of the next generation has been on my mind a lot lately, as Clarkston pushes for a bond to build a new high school. How far we’ve come. Being educated five generations ago was a privilege. Formal learning beyond reading, writing and arithmetic was open only to the children of well-off citizens. Those few who were accepted into academia from the “common folk” were fortunate.

My maternal greatgrandparents were immigrants who settled in the Midwest. When their girls were 8,6,4 and 2, Great-grandpa decided to move west. There wasn’t much book learning during their journey by covered wagon to San Francisco, an ocean vessel to Portland, a steam boat to Walla Walla and horse-and-buggy to Medical Lake, Spokane and Tekoa. The family finally settled in Reubens. In that period of 10 years, there was no formal learning. Why would there be? They were going to be farmers.

My grandparents held education to a little higher standard by sending their three children to a one-room school house in Chesley, Idaho. My uncle didn’t take learning seriously and would rather make money than go to school. My mom loved learning but couldn’t go

to high school in Reubens because she didn’t have shoes. My aunt hated school and became a caretaker and cook for a wealthy family after they moved to Lewiston. None of them went beyond eighth grade, but functioned well because they could read, write and keep records with mathematics.

My dad was pulled out of school in third grade. His father considered schooling a waste of time because Dad was a slow learner. He was put to work on the farm. What more did farmers, cooks, housewives and factory workers need?

There were only two in the family line of my generation. My cousin quit school her sophomore year to get married. I was the first in my mom’s family to get a full, well-rounded education. I graduated from high school and college and became a teacher. Mom would often remind me of what a privilege it was to go to school. I raised the bar in our family. They didn’t harp at me about getting an education. It was an expectation that I would go beyond their level.

During my teaching years, I saw children pass through my classroom whose families didn’t see education as priority. Parents’ lack of motivation filtered down to their offspring. School was viewed as burden to be endured until they turned 14 and could quit. Other families encouraged their children to take advantage of the training.

As the workforce changed, the school system adapted its curriculum to keep up. Schools began offering opportunities for branching out into various occupations. My children were in the first generation to be able to take advanced placement classes from the college. Now we have a new gen- eration. What can we offer today’s students? They’ve already moved far beyond the offerings of their forebears’ schools. Technical advances offer them easy access to self-trained learning with minimal guidance. They look for challenges, mentoring, opportunities, training in fields where they’ll thrive. What we’re experiencing today is a reversal of needs. Education has evolved from a simple shaping of our society to a scrambling to keep up kids. Of course, we want them to be excited about learning. They need to learn the basics: how to gain a strong work ethic and become good citizens who are kind and helpful to others. In addition, we want to equip them to be able to compete in a high-achieving world by offering them the same opportunities they would have in larger communities. Education, training, internships, technology, skills, mentoring — they’re a must.