As Americans, we tend to suffer from chronic myopia.
We view the world from the vantage point of our own front porch. We frequently fail to see the bigger picture.
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Most of us are stuck in a time warp.
Even though, as consumers, we are active participants in the global economy, we perceive the world beyond our doorsteps as if it were still 1962 or even 1992, when America was the undisputed leader of the Free World.
When the economy hits a rough patch, like now, we get nostalgic. We long for simpler times when we knew our place in the world, and everyone else knew his place.
It was so much easier in the 1950s; we were still aglow from having defeated evil in the name of the greater good. We saved the world. If we could crush the Nazis, and later bring the Soviet Bear to its knees, we could do anything.
Was It a Brain Cramp?
Like many heroes, after the confetti has been swept away and the champagne bottles have been drained, there was the inevitable letdown.
In the case of the American economy, we got lazy. We stopped doing the things we do best, crafting new ideas and making things.
One of our most envied assets was public education, formerly the best in the world. During the past 30 years, it has become one our greatest shames.
Although foreign students still flock to our universities, our kids lag far behind the rest of the world in math, science and other basic skills that are the key to America’s economic future.
The Vulnerable Group That Suffers
There is no question that our schools need reform, top-to-bottom. The deadwood needs to go. Fresh ideas and innovation are the watchwords.
Bringing change to our education system, however, is a costly proposition. With our pocketbooks stretched to the limit, most Americans cringe at the notion of additional spending, especially if it means higher taxes.
With states and counties tightening their belts, something has to give. Unfortunately, more often than not, this has translated into deep cuts in primary and secondary education.
My daughter is a public high school student. Her older sister has since graduated the same school, and now attends a top university.
Yesterday, my daughter brought home the grim news that at least two dozen teachers at her school would be laid off. In addition, because of budget cuts, several advanced placement, or A.P. , classes such as physics and chemistry would be eliminated. Art programs would be gutted. Even summer school, dreaded by most students, but an essential tool for many, would be scratched.
The Name of the Down Payment
I’m a taxpayer. I am sickened by the billions, and in all probability trillions, being spent to bail out banks, incompetent carmakers and failed investors who claim they didn’t appreciate the risks of the marketplace.
Tragically, we are mortgaging our children’s future by saddling them with a gargantuan national debt in order to save our hides today.
We can wail about it. But the deed is done.
Given this reality then, as parents and Americans, we better be prepared to put our kids in a position to foot the bill.
Access to a quality education is that down payment.
We need police, fire, access to healthcare and clean water. After that, everything else is frosting on the cake. If we’re truly serious about building a sustainable economy, where American workers can compete on level playing field in the global marketplace, then the one area of spending on which we cannot, and should not, scrimp, is education.
To do otherwise, would plunge the dagger even deeper into the America’s future standing as a shining beacon of the modern world.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group, based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
