\nOXFORD,
\nMiss. – Close all high schools – including their athletics programs –
\nand funnel those funds into early childhood education. Pay elementary
\nschool teachers salaries equivalent to that of professional basketball
\nplayer LeBron James.\n<\/p>\n
These were two radical – yet facetious –
\nsuggestions made Tuesday (Sept. 24) by State Superintendent of
\nEducation Hank Bounds at the University of Mississippi in a public
\nprogram that included a response to a comprehensive research paper
\nsubmitted by a group of UM political science students.
\n
Thirteen students in UM’s Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College crafted “Closing the Gap: Education in Mississippi” as part of Richard Forgette’s Political Science 100 class last spring. Their 75-page paper was shared with Bounds, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and former Gov. Ray Mabus before Tuesday’s session in the Overby Center.<\/p>\n
\n“This honors class was asked to decide what is the greatest policy challenge facing our state today,” Forgette said in introductory remarks. “After much debate, discussion and written papers, public education was seen as the No. 1 priority.”<\/p>\n
Forgette, chair and professor of political science, had students Nora Hughes of Starkville and Alan Pate of Chocowinity, N.C., present a brief summary of the paper before the audience of more than 100 students, faculty and visitors. The students identified the three goals as strengthening access to early education, making an investment in quality teachers and increasing the focus on improved graduation rates to prepare more students for college.<\/p>\n
“Early on, we considered such issues as poverty, economics, health care and obesity,” Hughes said. “The conclusion we came to is that education is the answer to all of Mississippi’s problems.”<\/p>\n
Only days before the first 2008 presidential debate is hosted at UM, both Bryant and Mabus made shameless political plugs for candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. But partisan politics aside, all three panelists agreed that Mississippi must somehow change its attitude toward education in order to resolve its problems.<\/p>\n
“No matter what the question is, education is the answer,” Bounds said.<\/p>\n
Mabus, who served as governor from 1988 to 1992, noted that the issues addressed in the students’ report were the same as when he was in office. “I feel like Mississippi has failed in every way possible,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Why do we always have to be last? We must change our attitudes and expectations about education in Mississippi. Until education is seen as the only way out of the hole we’re in, we’ll never make progress.”<\/p>\n
Mississippi must make education exciting for students, Bryant said.
\n“It’s about competition, learning and achievement,” he said. “Students and their parents need to be able to choose schools so that there is a passion for learning. It can be done.”<\/p>\n
The students who drafted the report said the experience helped them realize the gravity of the issues facing presidential hopefuls and how difficult it is to find practical solutions.<\/p>\n
“We’re last in where we want to be and first in where we don’t want to be,” Bounds said. “It’s time to boldly confront the facts.”
\nFor more information on the presidential debate or related events, go to http:\/\/debate.olemiss.edu\/<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"