After many years of graduate school and even more years as an instructor of English at the college level, I have one comment to make about Governor Ventura’s education budget: It sucks.

Tuesday, February 06, 2001

After many years of graduate school and even more years as an instructor of English at the college level, I have one comment to make about Governor Ventura’s education budget: It sucks. How’s that for measured, intellectual discourse?

How can a man ask a school teacher to be his runningmate (the non-entity currently serving as Lieutenant Governor), suggest that the state take over all funding for education, and then propose a budget that seems likely to force schools into yet another round of cutbacks, staff reductions and program eliminations? Maybe his mind is more on his book deals and his weekend job with the XFL. My support for him is waning.

This budget would hit close to home for many school-age Minnesotans and their families. The schools my kids attend are going to have to do some creative bookkeeping if state aid isn’t increased at a more responsible rate. We heard from the superintendents of Alden-Conger and Albert Lea in the Tribune last week. I suspect a similar message would come from other school districts. Employees will have to be laid off. Programs will have to be cut or curtailed. It’s anybody’s guess as to who or what will be cut, but as a supporter of music and art programs, I fear the worst. Cutting the football team would save a lot of money, but it’s not going to happen because too many of us taxpayers &uot;love&uot; football. Not enough of us believe in the value of artistic expression.

If the budget passes as proposed, students at state universities and community colleges can expect a tuition hike. On a personal note, the current proposal to waive tuition for graduate students who teach at MSU while they study may not be able to be implemented. Raising tuition creates hardships for families who are trying to use education to make a better life for themselves. Cutting programs limits the options for those who can afford to attend college. But Gov. Ventura has already made it clear that he is not interested in making it easier for people to attend college.

The way I see it, Gov. Ventura’s budget proposals for spending on education flow out of his lack of respect for people who think before they talk or act, especially people with college educations. During college, people learn new ways to think and see the world. A college education can give an individual a chance to stand back from society and really see it – both the good and the bad – so that she or he can make a difference for the better. In Gov. Ventura’s view of the world, if you spend your life thinking you are an intellectual and can’t be trusted.The only legitimate reason to go to college is enter a career that earns more money.It’s an unfortunate view, but it’s one that many people share.

From that perspective there are too many schools in our state. Districts need to consolidate to save taxpayers’ money. From that perspective there are definitely too many colleges and universities. Let’s just keep the ones with winning sports teams and shut down the rest. Let private colleges pick up the slack. Or prospective college students can just go to school somewhere else.

We don’t want college-educated intellectuals here, anyway, just ordinary people, willing to work without complaints for minimum wage in food-processing plants and fast food restaurants. Or more taxpayers could follow the lead of a community in Arizona populated by retirees from the Midwest who voted to secede from the local school district so that they wouldn’t have to pay anything to support the education those schools provided.

For myself, I will concede some problems with public education. The teacher’s unions in our public schools seem more interested in &uot;workplace&uot; issues than they are in how kids learn. With some important exceptions, school administrators are expected to act more like dictators and less like educators.Universities often spend a lot of money on hiring faculty with &uot;big name&uot; appeal, but who can’t or won’t teach.

I don’t think we as a society make education at all levels as much of a priority as we should, from the local level on up to Washington. It’s our money, certain politicians tell us, and we should get to spend more of it on ourselves or on space-based missile defense, and less on things like schools. The problem is that our society needs free-thinking individuals to thrive; without citizens who can think for themselves, bad governments can come to power even in a democracy.

David Behling’s is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears Tuesdays.