Among the questions asked in an elimination quiz during the finals of one Public Radio national competition was, “If one link of a chain can support 30 lbs., a second link 50 lbs. and a third one 70 lbs., what is the total weight that the chain can support? Choosing the heaviest amount, the contestant answered incorrectly. The answer is the lightest weight as the old adage still applies: “No chain is stronger than its weakest link.”
Do we keep forgetting this or do we simply refuse to accept the fact? Do we also fail to see the whole of society as a single chain through the evolution of mankind with the uneducated, the undereducated and underprivileged as its weakest link?
When this youthful nation, in comparison, was in its infancy and its population considerably smaller, it was easier to be fooled by the delusion that the “halves” could isolate themselves from the “have-nots” and proceed through life totally isolated and insulated from its effects. But that attitude in itself became the problem as more and more people, especially in our inner cities began falling into the category of “have-nots” as the below-poverty level continued to rise.
With the highly multicultural make-up of our American society there is absolutely no control over what cultural, religious or moral values (if any) exist within individuals, homes and communities. The only thing over which we do have any control is our public school systems upon which increasingly falls a disproportionate share of responsibility for the fate of our society.
As the fate of tomorrow’s society rests in the hands of today’s children and youth there is no time to shift blame for our malignant social ills. It is imperative that we assure that our public school systems provide equal education and equal opportunity for ALL who enter it.
Granted, all children do not have the same learning capacity, but this differentiation should be determined strictly on an individual basis rather than by the child’s race, sex, national origin, residency or any other broad discriminatory measures. Our present multi-cultural/multi-religious public school systems are often frustrated with teachers and administrators placed in unfamiliar school districts, especially during the early stages of integration.
