Editor:
If the high school referendum in South Portland meets its maker on Nov. 6, no autopsy will be necessary. It will have perished from bureaucratic excess, insufficient transparency, and fatal miscommunication with the electorate from whose pockets the $85 million tab was to have come.
Had energy efficiency, air circulation, soil drainage, outdated electrical equipment or asbestos issues ever seriously plagued its occupants, perhaps a case could be made. But this $85 million sub-contractor’s dream, based on the false premise that such an expenditure would somehow elevate a student’s passion for learning, has no basis in fact. We should be so fortunate. The reality is, between 40 and 50 percent of high school graduates nationwide annually flunk college entrance exams in English and mathematics – 36 percent of the freshmen can barely read. We are not immune from this tragedy.
But the notion of throwing money at a building in hopes it might somehow elevate the attitude of lackadaisical parents, or jump start their lethargic and uninspired offspring to somehow reinvent themselves as serious and enthusiastic parents and students, is not only an illogical stretch, but punishes our overburdened and tax-wary citizens for the failure of our educational institutions to remedy their own shortcomings.
Fix what needs fixing. But don’t tell us that ambiance enhances the motivation to learn. That comes from within. Stimulate our young to reach within themselves and many of the golden doors of life will open for them. Fail and their futures could be bleak.
Robert M. Lord
South Portland