For more than 90 years, the Free and Accepted Masons of California has been sponsoring Public Schools Month in April. This year’s theme is, “Together we make a profound difference for public education.”
The purpose is to encourage communities to set aside a special time to discuss public schools. Ever since 1920, the goal of the Masons in promoting this month has been to enlist the support of the general public in the cause of public education.
Many Americans are astonished to learn that the U.S. public schools system is still considered the world’s best, despite a host of financial and social problems.
Frosty Troy, journalist and media commentator, argued that “America is bombarded by exaggerated, distorted or just plain false reporting and propaganda when it comes to public education.”
He pointed out that “more than 5 million public school students are dirt poor. Nearly 2 million are latchkey children. More than half a million attend from penal institutions. Another million are drug or alcohol disabled. ... One in two students come from a single-parent home, one in three is a minority, one in four is poor, one in eight is physically or emotionally handicapped, one in 12 speaks little or no English.”
And yet we focus on test scores and want everyone to be above average, he says.
He ended one article by admonishing that when it comes to public education, “pride and militant opposition to critics is obligatory” because so much is at stake. We must support our schools and our students and do all we can to help, he wrote.
That’s exactly where the Masons and Public Schools Month enter the picture. It is the perfect opportunity for members of the community to see firsthand what goes on in local classrooms and let them draw their own conclusions.
So take a few minutes and visit a local school this month. If it’s been awhile since your last visit, you’ll be amazed by the breadth, the depth and the vitality of what you see.
— Bill Cirone is Santa Barbara County’s superintendent of schools.
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