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As a result of my retirement and hospital stay, I have had ample time to think about the issues our country faces today. When I go through this mental exercise of trying to determine the cause of the issues we are facing, I always think about the possible role of education in addressing those issues. We can take our pick from the issues at hand: race relations, political polarization, the downward spiral of income of middle America, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the institutions of America.
Competition versus Cooperation
I will not
argue the point that we live in a competitive world, and I have been just as
concerned as you that our schools are not adequately preparing all students for
what they will face in the future. On the other side of the coin is cooperation
and I am just as afraid that we have not prepared our students to cooperate
especially with those who are different from them. I played basketball in middle school and high
school, so I learned a lot about being successful in competition. I’m not
certain that cooperation received the same emphasis, especially when it came to
those who are different than I. Living in southern Appalachia, most of the
folks I saw were working-class white and either Baptist or Methodist in
religious preference.
I believe that
cooperation is more powerful than competition. In competition, one side wins and
the other side loses, one side is built up and the other side is torn down, and
one side receives admiration from society and the other side receives only
disdain. However, in cooperation all sides are winners, all sides are built up,
and all sides receive admiration for what they have accomplished. The issue
that scares me the most is I am not certain in our current political state that
we can return to cooperation over competition.
Public Service
I can remember from my early days in education the required course in government was called Civics. I was well into my educational journey before I realize that the civics books emphasized the role of the citizen in governance rather than just the structure of our government. We killed civics because it cannot be taught like a history course. It must include engagement with one’s community, and we have not done that very well in our public schools.
There is
another term that I would like to inject at this point. Elected officials are
often referred to as public servants. If one fulfills the role of a public
servant, he/she will always emphasize cooperation. However, I am afraid that
our elected officials do not behave as public servants, rather they operate in
the arena of competition and their goal is to destroy the opposition. But let me be clear, I am not blaming solely our
elected officials, we get the leadership we vote for. We deserve what we get.
Bless You My Children,
Dr. Terry L. Simpson
Maryville College
Prof. of Secondary Education Emeritus
