As a senior citizen, I know from experience that free public education for all children is a fundamental reason that our country has prospered. My children and grandchildren attended public schools, and I gladly pay taxes to support all students. The U.S. became a strong and prosperous nation because our free public schools prepared generations before us for success. My father’s parents were immigrants, but public schools prepared my father and his brother for advanced degrees in medicine and nuclear engineering, and his sister to be a chemist. My publicly educated sibship prepared us to become three physicians, one lawyer, and one highly successful businessman.
The social exposure to people of different backgrounds and abilities prepared them and us for the world as it as. St Louis County where I grew up was completely fragmented into dozens of districts of varying sizes, where school funding came only from that small district area. Any attempt to create a more efficient system was vigorously opposed by those whose districts had better property tax bases. Florida counties are fortunate because the school districts encompass the entire county, so funding is required to be spread throughout the school district with “substantial equality,” per the Equity in School-Level Funding Act and the Florida Education Finance Program: District-Level Equity.
Schools today must deal with frequently changing aspects of what needs to be learned for life to provide a curriculum that is up to date for its time, and for the changing requirements of the different fields of work. For example, many of our generals and admirals now obtain PhDs, and many senior noncommissioned officers have master’s degrees. These necessary advanced educational needs were not the case 50 years ago for our military. Also, our public schools need to be able to prepare our students for professions that do not involve a traditional college degree. The Lorenzo Walker Institute has been an excellent example. There are no shady tree mechanics anymore − they are all highly trained technicians. The same is true for electricians, plumbers, aircraft engine mechanics, boat engine mechanics, etc…