“As a state legislator and 12-year faculty member at Portland Community College I appreciated your roundtable concerning Oregon’s education challenges.”
As a state legislator and 12-year faculty member at Portland Community College I appreciated your roundtable concerning Oregon’s education challenges [TAKING ISSUE WITH EDUCATION, January]. The observation by Morgan Anderson of Intel that “higher education has taken the brunt of the cuts” is especially significant and we ignore it at our peril.
Intellectual capital is a necessary condition of economic competitiveness and investing in higher education is critical to Oregon’s future. Unfortunately, what I observed in my freshman legislative session was something of an obsession with K-12 funding and paucity of focus on our system of higher education. We must broaden public discussion of education in Oregon to consistently include investment in higher education. —Larry Galizio State representative, House District 35 Tigard
Many participants in the education roundtable did not address an integral element to overall improvement of student achievement familial background and support. I was a teacher for 34 years. Of all the challenges I faced, the one most difficult to overcome was a student’s preschool experiences and value of education. These two factors were largely out of my hands.
Schools should be accountable for student progress and they are. As a teacher and now as district curriculum assistant, I have seen standards raised and assessments required at all levels.
To improve high school graduation rates and students’ employment skills, all plans need to include ways to enhance the pre-school experiences of high-risk students. Support services, like parenting classes, educational daycare programs and pediatric health care, should be available. Public education also needs a stable source of funding to meet all the challenges of the 21st century.
— Jim Harrington
Grants Pass School District
