My oldest son will start kindergarten at our local public school this coming fall. Like any other parent, I worry about the quality of education that my sons will receive and what things they will be exposed to in the community. As a teacher, I am relieved to hear that changes have been made to reduce class size in the kindergarten, but I also know that my sons’ education is not the sole responsibility of their teachers or their school. My wife and I have a responsibility also. We will make sure that our boys are well rested and fed before school, that their homework is done, and we will back the teachers should behavioral problems come up.
Who are the other stakeholders in the education of our children? Schools do not exist in vacuums; they live in communities. The hopes and dreams and goals of our communities are expressed in our schools. Unfortunately for our schools, our communities have been taking some serious shots for the past eight years. Across the 9th district, we have lost over 20 major employers. Every time one picks up a newspaper or turns on the TV one hears about another company laying off workers or closing shop completely. This has an effect on community members, and this is transmitted to their children. Students with no hope for the future are difficult to teach.
What do we do? I like Merle Haggard’s advice, "...Stop rolling down hill like a snowball headed for ..." We need to remake, not rebuild, the economies of our communities and country. Globalization is real. Global Climate Change is real. Peak Oil is real. What are WE going to do about it? Are we going to stick our heads in the sand denying these phenomena? Are we going to cower in the corner and cry about how it was in the "good old days". Or, are we going to get off our butts and DO something positive? I’m for positive action. Positive action builds hope. It might start as a trickle, but with work, creative thought, and communication, soon it will pulse through our communities.
In the previous paragraph, most people will have seen problems. I saw opportunities. We have the opportunity to totally remake how our economy is powered, and thus, how it is operated. The Age of Oil is coming to an end. We can either jump to a different set of tracks now, or we can get bowled over as it leaves town. Investing in and developing "green" alternative energy technologies will bring us together as a community. We will no longer be sending 80 cents on the dollar overseas for every gallon of gas we pump. Instead, we will be keeping that money right here in our communities. This means jobs. It means that our sons and daughters or grandsons and granddaughters don’t have to move somewhere else in order to make a living. It means the travel distance to see your children or grandchildren can be measured in minutes not days.
Even more importantly, it means hope. As a parent, I teach my sons many things: manners, hard work, reading, problem solving, and critical thinking to name a few skills. But, it is also important to teach them to hope. Without hope, all those other skills are useless. It’s like having a great truck but no gas. You won’t get anywhere.
We owe it to our children to not only think outside the box but to act outside of it also. Doing the same things will not make our communities more vibrant, our country stronger, or our lives better. We must summon the courage to change our actions, and part of this means changing our public servants. We owe it to our children. I know I do, and that is why I am running for Congress.
If you would like to know more about my campaign or if you would like to donate, please check out my website http://www.tonybarr2008.com