If you’re in education, then chances are you’ve read Stuart’s book. If not, you may want to pick it up, as it is an easy read that lends interesting insight into the beginnings of public education in the mountains. A tale about a time when the prospect of providing a well-rounded education to the public seemed like a good idea, narrated by a unique individual who was ahead of his time.
“I will live if my teaching is inspirational, good, and stands firm for good values and character training. Tell me how can good teaching ever die? Good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal.”
This profound belief in the goodness of the teacher and in the crucial role he/she plays in cultivating youths’ minds is the connecting theme that can be found in every page of Jesse Stuart’s story of his days as a mountain school teacher. His passion for relaying knowledge to his pupils, furthering his own education, fighting for the educational rights of the average citizen, and in being a leader of reform towards a better way of schooling seems boundless. I can’t help but wonder why there aren’t more people like him around today that stand up to demand change for our schools.
But is change what is needed? Is it enough?
Although Stuart wrote about experiences that took place over seventy years ago, many of the problems and issues that he faced in schools then, still exist today. Problems with poverty, parental involvement (or lack thereof), differences in cultural backgrounds, low literacy rates, low teacher salaries, educational and political bureaucracy, discipline problems, absences and tardies, ineffective teachers and administrators, and allocation of funds . . . were all there then. You’d think that in seventy plus years, states – at least cities – most definitely schools – would have figured out an effective method for providing education to all. Many do get an education, yet most certainly not all. Same as then.
So will simple change be the answer to these problems? And exactly what or who should change? Should it be the teachers, students, parents, administrators, counselors, community members, and/or legislators that change? And in what way(s)? Who will supervise the changes? What could possibly be altered in the existing system that wouldn’t offend anyone, please everyone, and still achieve the goal of educating all?
These question could go on and on – have been for seventy years. What will another possible seventy years of questioning accomplish?
Maybe public education isn’t the answer . . .
Meville 