Thoughts on Kohring ideas…

A Spectrum, by Sarah R. Welton

Money appears to be the issue and the only issue for Mr. Kohring. He ignores the human factors and historical reasons that we have government.

The cutting of funds for social services shows greed and short-sighted planning.

A thinking person looks at the issues of poverty, crime, and health care and sees that helping people today may make it so that they will not need help tomorrow. If people are not helped today the needs multiply.

A poor person who can get preventative health care saves all of us money over time. The human factor of suffering is eliminated in that one person's experience as well!

We do need to look at programs and review the needs of the population being served.

I believe that Mr. Kohring is not thinking clearly about the consequences of vouchers for private education. The impact of taking funds out of the public school system and putting the in private hands creates more than just financial problems.

We are a nation of diverse populations. That is wonderful because we can learn from each other. We learn new ways of thinking, ways to process information, and how to handle different situations from a variety of viewpoints.

These are differences that make us a great country. Father Michael Oleksa said, in one of his video lectures concerning cross-cultural communication, that instead of a melting pot, the United States is like a "salad bowl." This image says that we can mix and still be great together but we do not become totally like each other.

Taking funds out of public education to create more private education creates a "we and they" society. Some private schools are "exclusive," having standards of only accepting some people. This creates a separateness that we know from past history creates more divisions in the community.

Educators, theologians, criminologists, sociologists and psychologists study how we operate as a community locally, nationally and globally. The finding is that the more we know through association with other people the more likely we are to have positive relationships with others. Having positive relationships creates the ability to work through problems in all areas.

Separating people, even at the elementary school level, creates feeling of entitlement, superior attitudes, racism, religious prejudice and can create hatred and fear of others. School is the basic way we, as a nation, create a cohesive society with our diversities. We can maintain these diversities because we have knowledge of others and do not fear people because they are different.

Private school education is an option for those who want it for their children and financial support is available for many through their religious organizations or private donors. This is a freedom of choice in education.

In the public school system the public has "a say" in what is taught. There are professional people with extensive backgrounds in education to offer advice and consultations. Private schools receiving public funding will have no oversight.

Separating the money out of the public schools and divvying it up will create a watered-down product. We have difficulty with the present level of funding to provide the tools necessary for our children to succeed -- to maintain dedicated teachers and staff -- and to go beyond the need of today and really look at the future.

Sarah R. Welton