The American colonists were already well-educated when they rebelled against the king, predisposing the success of their subsequent self government. Broad based education was the extra ingredient we added to maximize the return on our human and natural resources. Public education, the foundation of democracy, today stands on shakier and shakier ground. Two pricey private schools are under construction. Resources are not allocated equally in our school district.
Parents lobby for it, raise it or donate it.
Schools depending on the taxpayers alone fall apart, apartheid under arithmetical equality. Public education presents the only chance most children of humble means will get to improve their lot in life. I could never have afforded to attend college had not the California state university system been so affordable and accessible. I graduated from Fresno State before Gov. Ronald Reagan could finish doing his dirty work of turning the greatest university system the world had ever seen into something only so-so. That's why I find it so ironic that two guys from Fresno State figure so prominently in the future of public higher education here in the high desert outback of the American dream.