SCHOOL ELECTION page 5

that our schools have an oblig-
ticularly incisive question and
ation to teach much more than
print all of the candidates' re-
reading, writing, and 'rithrnetic;
sponses in order to t ter dis-
our students must be critical
tinguish between they
thinkers and problem solvers
Of primary importanC
ever, is that any repot of who can strategize and theorize
candidate races needs to be both„ about concepts more complex
circumspect and objective. The than we can ever imagine.
Educators today know so
rule of thumb is usually"
much more about how the brain
each candidate is afforded. eq -
ad how learning actu-
space and coverage; if this can .
ally happens; on the cutting
-nit may be
not be achieved,
edge are those professionals
better not to offer coverage at
who can integrate sound,
all.
though not necessarily new, re-
Yet there was potential here
search data with the best as-
for powerful, continuing educa-
sumptions about what the
tion that began earlier in this
future will hold for our children
election season with the infor-
in order to create optimal, 1.1S3-
mation presented at the forum
held at Adat Shalom on "The
New Right," a joint effort of th. --- - '41schcois must continually in-
,1ove and ultimately, reform.
National Council of Jewisi,
In order to advance, however, it
Women and the Jewish CoraL
will take broad-based commu-
munity Council. This was an
nity support and participation
outstanding and extremely well-
attended panel discussion, and
the Jewish community was
primed and ready to receive
good information of the candi-
date races.
Everyone who left the pre-
sentation was able to ask better
questions of the candidates, and
analyze.:their responses more
critically" People had a height-
ened serve of urgency with re-
gard to~ the importance of
— a renewed sense of shared r .
participIion in school elections
sponsibility for the future of thi-,
as a grat3S-roots expression of
great nation.
political and intellectual free-
Important issues and que<;'-
dom. The Jewish News had also
tons will have to be addresse I
regularly offfered informative
sooner rather than later. Can
stories on the activities and im-
we create, in our communities,
pact of the "New Right."
a shared vision of what we ex-
Two consistent themes that
pect from our public schools? Do
were identified by opponents in
we want our schools to become
all of our districts were "back-
N
more like businesses, where as
to-basics," or a return to tradi-
an offshoot of corporate compe-
tional teaching methods, and
tition comes increased spending
disagreement with Supreme
on advertising, and decreased
Court decisions that upheld the
spending everywhere else, like
separation of church and state.
art, music, etc.? What kind of
In fact, one candidate told a
graduates do we want to have?
group of students at a candi-
Will they be what we, as a soci-
dates' forum that nowhere is the
ety, need?
separation of church and state
Most importantly, though,
written; this is the same candi-
are we going to be able to stave
date who also told students to
off challenges from non-credible
exercise only one of their two al-
critics of the far right, who do
lotted votes in order to vote only
not have the best interests of all
for him, and to vote against the
-
children at heart? And how 7 4
millage renewal as a means of
much time will they consume „/
protest.
from the really important dis-
Prior to this, the same candi-
cussions we need to be having ; -/\
date, as part of his opening re-
in our communities about h_,w
marks to the students, gifted the
we can best serve the students K
school media center with a
and parents to whom we are di-
Bible, "the history of God's cho-
rectly responsible?
sen people, the Jewish Nation."
As you can see, there is much
This candidate came in third in
to be done. It is in our best in-
Bloomfield Hills with 1,388
terest to stay informed about
votes.
and involved in our schools. Our
School officials should not un-
public system of education, that
derestimate the power of the
refuses no one, is what contin-
"back-to-basics" rhetoric. It is
ues to distinguish us among the
very appealing to the majority
nations. It remains one of the
of registered voters in our midst
fundamentally democratic in-
— those without any school-age
stitutions in our country. I am
children.
proud of the way our communi-
We ought not waste another
ties came together, and I am
minute in making it abundant-
hopeful that we will continue
ly clear that the schools in our
our quest for accurate informa-
communities are teaching "the
tion about the very real threats
basics" and teaching them ex-
to public education. ❑
tremely well. So well, in fact,

Only community
involvement will
save our public
schools.

ust because your children attend college out-of-town
doesn't mean they have to be out-of-touch. Sure, you can
call them every week. But you can't cover everything. After
all, that's what we do. We'll tell them all about what's happening in
their hometown, the nation and world. We'll give them stimulating
viewpoints, and interesting features. But most of all, we'll bring
them home every week. And that's good news for everyone.

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