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Wheel award
Off the Wall
2/1/07
It doesn't take a genius, at least in my estimation,
to conclude that we are living in a time period where there isn't
a lot of surplus in funds to spend money frivolously. All one
need to do is to browse over the public notices in the daily
newspapers and the figures are spelled out in black and white.
Yet, after analyzing the tabloids carefully, not
all towns hold true to tight budgets.
Now, first of all, I am the farthest thing from
being any kind of an expert when it comes to debits, credits
and the like. On the other hand, the little knowledge I have
gained over the years has aided my understanding in checks and
balances.
You probably wonder where I am going with all this.
One day a month or two ago, while glancing through
The Latrobe Bulletin, I came upon an article that astonished
me. A matter of fact, I was relieved what was being said didn't
take place in Latrobe (or in surrounding towns, as far as that
goes). As was reported, teens in towns throughout the country
are now being awarded brand new trucks for having good attendance
records.
From the eyes of one true traditional conservative,
I can see no academic value in this motivational ploy.
Can't you just see it listed under the legal notices,
this year the Greater Latrobe School Board is going to reserve
$168,000 of tax payer money for six students who have completed
the school year with near perfect attendance? "Ouch"
would be too mild a word to describe the knifing we would be
getting as a result of someone's crazy idea to get youth to continue
their education.
I have to wonder if the truant officer is still
an employee of the school district.
When I was attending grade school, I heard tell
of these people regularly being sent to students' homes. For
reasons unbeknown to me, my peers either didn't want to go to
school or due to some hardship couldn't.
Do you suppose these people got salaries equivalent
to the values of these trucks? I think not (but here again, what
do I know about these kinds of things?).
To be perfectly honest, I found grade school very
challenging. It really wasn't my cup of tea either, but I went.
And guess what? I did the very best I could despite problems
I encountered.
Back then, we used to have assemblies at the end
of each year. The awarding of certificates recognized all achievements.
If extra merits were accomplished, a little pin would accompany
it. That was like icing on the cake.
As we got older, many of the youth joined sports
organizations. For their participation and achievements they
received cloth letters which were sewn onto their high school
jackets, certificates of achievement or in some cases, scholarships
to be used toward higher education or checks in the amount of
said amounts from institutions themselves.
But what have we now? Has the educational steering
committee changed gears away from the educational pursuits? Have
the priorities shifted from practical learning applications to
truck trafficking instead?
Maybe I'm sounding a bit harsh, but, in my opinion,
there is no way in the world I think this is a good substitute
to encourage teens to regularly attend school. Reading, writing
and arithmetic are all prerequisites to establishing a foundation
for all future endeavors, no matter where the student goes after
graduation.
It may be true as the story stated, "More students
are returning back to classes."
I might follow that up by asking several questions:
"Did the drop-out from two years ago return
this year improve his grade average or did he just come back
for the "wheel award?" What kind of message does this
send to the youth of today? Are there gray areas of discrimination
that may fall into place here? You tell me.
Paul j. volkmann
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