Thank you Kathy for your question.
My "personal opinion" is not based on
demographic data but rather on a few years of personal involvement with a
number of local and area Boards which from time to time have invited state
government and education professionals in to speak. It is also based on
what local business owners involved in PHASED and WAIDA have shared as their
concerns regarding the future economic health of the region. It is also
based on the number of graduates completing their studies at WSU, SMU, and the
Tech school, and how few of these graduates actually find work in their chosen
field and stay in the Winona area.
As I stated, it is a personal
opinion.
Mike Kirschmann
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 8:26
PM
Subject: Re: [Winona] RE: What will it
take
[Winona Online Democracy]
Mike, you make an interesting point, but I find
myself wondering about what your opinion is based upon. Is there some
demographic data that shows us that our young people leave more often than
stay? Is there data that shows that MN has a fraction of high quality
jobs for the numbers of qualified young people we nurture through our
education system?
My fear is that if we start failing our young
people by failing to nurture their minds, how can we possibly hope to grow
economically? (Which is the point I thought Paul and Phil were
trying to make--please correct me if I've got that wrong).
Kathy Seifert
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 8:01
PM
Subject: Re: [Winona] RE: What will it
take
[Winona Online Democracy]
While I'm not sure about the " it takes
a village" phrase (it's right up there with "do more with less"), Phil
brings up some valid points.
However, I find myself asking how we keep young
people in Minnesota who have completed their education in our high quality
system, specifically in Winona, when we can't provide high quality jobs for
them when they're ready to enter the work force.
It is my personal opinion that
Minnesota's biggest export is highly educated young
people. Minnesota taxpayers prepare the ground with dollars, plant the
seeds with dollars, cultivate the crop with dollars, and tend the field
workers with dollars. Then, when the crop is ready for harvest, other
States enjoy the fruit of our labor. Long term, how does that benefit
Minnesota or our local schools?
It seems to me that if we could create
jobs as fast as we create college graduates, the problems of adequate
education funding would take care of
itself.
Mike Kirschmann, Greater Winona
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 10:37
AM
Subject: [Winona] RE: What will it
take
[Winona Online Democracy]
Regarding Paul
Double's question - what will it take for us to wake up and prepare our
students for the real world in the 21st century - there is a short, but
not easy, answer: Education. We need a commitment to education at
all levels, starting at the earliest pre-school level and continuing to
graduate and post-graduate levels. It will take the whole "village"
to raise children in this environment - including engaged parents and
interested businesspeople - but it also takes a commitment from the
community at large to fund a high quality education system. Slogans
like "no new taxes" and "do more with less" may satisfy a certain slice of
the constituency, but as in most things, you get what you pay
for.
I find it
baffling that many say they want an educated citizenry but refuse to put
up the tax dollars needed to do it well and make it work
universally. This is not a place where the "marketplace" is going to
deliver for all children. We need a society-wide commitment to
excellence and education. If we could peek into every classroom in
the state and see what the teachers and administrators do with the
meager resources we dole out we would be impressed with their
resourcefulness, but appalled at our own cheapness.
Education,
education, education. No one is going to do it for us.
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