With all the technological advances in our age, from pocket-size video games to cell phones with applications for just about anything, it’s amazing any kid has the time of day for education. Nutrition is as an archaic notion as rotary dial telephones. Fatty processed food is all the rage, sugar and sodium is the main ingredient in just about everything. Parents spend plenty of time and effort raising kids to be lazy, obese consumers with no attention span. (I won’t even touch the culture of violence we have immersed our children in.)

School is more of a distraction then a priority and the proof is in our failing classrooms. Children come to school preoccupied and uninterested because the teacher will never be as exciting as an electronic gadget. Nevertheless, whenever there is talk of budget cuts in the Buffalo Public Schools, it always falls squarely on the teachers and how great they have it. I am always left wondering how this can be.

We as a society spend in excess of a hundred million dollars in a few short years on season tickets, memorabilia, and tax subsidies for a relatively small group of men. These men work in careers that reward them handsomely for executing their job with mediocrity and consistent failure. Never do these men work a full year; never do we raise our voices in disgust at their inflated salaries. We cheer through the neighborhoods when they excel and console them with rallies when they return home failures. They are able to commit crimes and snub law enforcement, all while enjoying the victor’s spoils. Sadly Western New Yorkers value their sports teams more then they value a good education.

We are never the cheerleaders for the people who have decided to dedicate their careers to molding and shaping our children. It is painful to observe all of this. I keep coming back in my mind to the bumper sticker I once read, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

Mike Santoro
Tonawanda

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