Is Georgia successfully creating fulfilling educational environments? | Opinion
Sadly, I have come to realize that many of our ostensible leaders – be they spiritual, political or pedagogical – are failing our state.
In an ideal world, children will grow up to receive an education that will serve them throughout life – not necessarily make them wealthy but content and sufficiently affluent to lead a fulfilled life. Is this expectation still a reasonable one? Recent events, including the tragic shooting in Barrow County, have brought close attention to our schools and especially to parents and students.
Are social media to blame for emotional problems? What about childhood trauma?
Many of our leaders, instead of stepping up to confront today’s issues, place their own children in a private academy and instead of leading turn their backs on painful and complex issues, declaring “This is not the right time.”
Our nation is gaining a reputation for rage. An international magazine that my family subscribes to recently had a cover with the caption “How ugly will it get?” Who knows? Already the results of the upcoming election are threatened to be contested. In a society where truth is a word that no longer holds meaning, we should not be surprised.
Teachers are already underpaid and often subject to verbal abuse from both students and parents. In recent days we have learned that they are also susceptible to gunfire – just a fact of life, politicians say.
With venom coming from the mouths of politicians (ostensibly our leaders) is it any wonder that young persons are emotionally disturbed? What scares me the most is not bullets that come from the barrels of guns but rather the vitriol and vituperation that pours from the mouths of not just politicians but the partisans in seemingly any dispute, however inconsequential.
If education is to be successful – and our future depends upon it – it is essential that students learn to capture “the best that has been known and thought” out of the onslaught of information that pours down upon us. In just a matter of generations we have gone with increasing rapidity from the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age to the Digital Age, and we are now confronting the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Do the virtues and values of the past still hold value?
During Macon’s recent Bicentennial Celebration, I read “Master Slave Husband Wife,” a celebrated work recounting Ellen and William Craft’s dramatic escape from slavery right here in Macon. Just days ago, I started reading “James Oglethorpe: Father of Georgia,” the latest work by Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. A few days before that I heard a presentation by former Google VP Matthew Stepka titled “How AI is transforming education and the human experience.” We can hope our graduates will realize it is their duty to continue to pursue knowledge when they step forth into the world. .
Currently, Georgia is suffering from a dearth of leadership. Does the governor truly believe that now is not the time to address guns in schools? I was timid in my youth, but life took me to an Armored Cavalry squadron. It was there that I learned the Prayer of St. Francis (to comfort others rather than to be comforted). From a philosophy major I learned the Kantian Categorical Imperative (will you approve of something if that means it becomes a universal practice?) Most importantly, I learned from a kindly colonel that the highest form of leadership is leadership by example.
It’s clear to me that many of Georgia’s leaders would benefit from a few years in uniform.
As my son-in-law is fond of saying, “Semper Fidelis.”
Larry Fennelly can be reached at larney_f@hotmail.com.