Modern Tale of Two Cities | Eastern North Carolina Now

One of the most quoted paragraphs in literature is the opening sentence from Dicken’s “Tale of Two Cities.”  It reads:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Now we see it again “like the present period.”  Our children are being taught by some teachers schooled in the halls of Socialism (The God that Failed).  Others being exposed to what the far left has created as a norm of sexual mores that in years past were known as an emotional illness.  But now they are being taught to accept that lifestyle as “inclusiveness.”  Then comes, straight out of Marx, CRT (Critical Race Theory) to divide and conquer this Nation and tear down the progress that has been made to establish all People equal under the law, without firing a shot.

Then comes OBY (Our own backyard).  Beaufort County can now boast that out of 13 schools the Department of Public Instruction rates eight of them as a D (40).  Six hundred students did not come back to public schools this year.  While receiving up to $16000 per student per year, why can they not compete with private schools?  The cry goes up with all kinds of excuses, while an unacceptably large number of children in the 8^th grade cannot sign their names or read cursive.  Many young people applying for jobs at MJM Yachts and 25 other boat builders in our area cannot read a ruler.  One substitute teacher who is 6’7” and a previous basketball coach refuses to teach at PS Jones because of discipline problems. 

Students applying for entry-level jobs cannot make change without a register.  Graduating students have never heard of the “Greatest Generation” but know about “Repatriation.”  Few have any understanding of our Constitution or the real history of those great men that risked their lives and their fortunes to establish the greatest nation in the history of the world.  Yes, this was the “Great Experiment” that produced true freedom and the right to own property.

The cry goes up, “But we need to be graded on progress”.  OK, show us progress.  Who is responsible?  Who is held accountable by whom?  In industry (the real world) the Company President is responsible.  The buck stops there.  When they do not perform, the board of directors gets another President.  If workers do not perform, they are replaced.  If the product is inferior, it is improved.  Can we see progress here with only 30%+/- of the students’ scores in Beaufort County reading and math at or above grade level?  That means 70% are not proficient in the basic skills. 

The simple facts are that while the amount of money being spent on public education has increased much faster than inflation in recent years, the levels of student performance have come nowhere near those increases in spending.  We hear about “grow scores” but when you drill down into it the obfuscation makes it impossible to determine which standards are being met and which are not. 

But there is a fact that is indisputable:  The growth in spending for things outside the classroom has grown much greater than any measure of student performance. 

Beaufort County is blessed with many excellent dedicated teachers, assistants, and principals.  But we are also burdened with far too many who do not achieve even the minimum in student performance.  

Have you attended a School Board Meeting?  (Please do) The Superintendent seems to run the meeting.  The duly elected board members haven’t caught on that he works for them not the other way around.  Parents are not very welcome there.  The Public Comment session appears to be a real chore for them.  There is no sound system in a modern room with seven TV monitors.  Now that TV is a way of life in America, the school system cannot get around to providing TV coverage of the meeting for the public.  Few can hear what the Superintendent is saying or the Board members if you are in the audience.  Parents are allowed to speak for 3 minutes for up to 4 people.  That means the Public can address the Board for 12 minutes in the General session 12 times a year, a total of 144 minutes per year.

For sure there is one thing we have no shortage of, and that is an abundance of central office personnel who spend much of their time finding the latest curriculum fad to impose on classroom teachers.  But we hear nothing about how many students are achieving the standards they should be mastering.

That is what parents want to know.  “Is my child learning what they need to know and be able to do?”  Most parents are not as interested in manipulated, impossible to understand, group scores as they are in whether their child is getting the kind of education they need.

One has to wonder if the fads are worth the costs.  Not only in dollars but in what is not being learned.  We wonder every time we hear about a “new program” what was dropped to make way for that latest fad.  And clearly, in recent years, many of these fads are rooted in ideas that are alien to traditional American values.  Too many fads displace time-proven standards and fail to produce students proficient in the basics.  As one teacher put it:  “we are ‘staff developed’ to the point that we hear “this too shall pass away” with all these “innovations.”  Just give me time to teach and get out of the way.”

Parents must get involved.  We need help with changing the Culture that has been developed by misguided agendas and a lack of support at home.  People are motivated by a cause or desire, not just because they have to or because I said so.  A tried-and-true statement is found in the Old Testament Proverbs, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”.  When parents and the public become involved with our school system and help their children learn that there is not a “Glass Ceiling” in any neighborhood or race we will see progress.  Money is being thrown at this problem from many sources, but it must be applied with good sound common sense. What about priorities?  Is there a list or plan?

We need better Super Stars and Role Models for our Children along with parents and volunteers that will help those that struggle.  It is estimated that many of our students are now as much as four years behind their grade level.  Without help, they will not stay in school and catch up.  Let us all pray that this new School Board will be brave enough to make the necessary changes required to help our students become happy and productive citizens.

The changes that are needed are not micro improvements.  We need leadership that sets high standards and measures how many individual students meet those standards.  Then our leadership should determine a way to compare each individual student’s level of performance to the level of performance of students in the best schools and school systems, be they public or private.

Maybe, just maybe, our central office staff needs to focus on doing fewer things better…like reading, writing, computing and understanding the great ideas that made this country what it once was.

In Beaufort County, and all across this great country, the people have spoken.  They want excellence, not mediocrity.  But excellence must begin with the leadership and that puts the ball in the school board’s court.  Will they hear the People? 

Which city will they choose?  Will they choose the worst or the best?