Mehlville Doesn't Have a Hard Work Problem, They Have a Funding Problem

My dad graduated from Mehlville High School in 1972.  Twenty-eight years earlier, his dad, my grandfather, graduated from Mehlville High School.  My grandfather later went on to become an engineer, in high demand at the time, and retired as a safety executive at Monsanto.  

In the process, he was able to use his connections to get my father a job at a petroleum additives company almost straight out of high school.  He has taken full advantage of his opportunity by working long hours and extra shifts, now, without a college degree, serving as the plant manager at their headquarters in Richmond, VA.

The Special Talents of Successful People

The key component in the previous paragraph was that my father was given an opportunity to take advantage of in the first place.  Quite often, as eloquently written about by journalists like Malcolm Gladwell, this is a fact that is often conveniently discarded by successful people.

They give inordinate amounts of credit to their special talents, and not nearly enough to the foundations and opportunities, often unseen, that set them up for their success.

The attitude of many of these individuals is similar to, "I did it, why can't you?"  Or, as new Mehlville Patch blogger Rich Franz alluded to in his , in this Leave it to Beaver world of ours, all anyone really needs to know in life is how to work hard.

Nonsense.

"It's the Hard Work, Stupid"

It's true that hard work has its own rewards. Working hard for the sake of it is the prime lesson of Chuang Tzu's Poem of the Woodcarver, as well as one of the punchlines in Voltaire's Candide.

To this Franz writes:

"Have we taught our children’s generation to value those qualities that result in success regardless of their profession? The character traits that drive someone to value another’s welfare over their own, to actively assume responsibility for the lives of others, especially their children? Are we teaching it in our homes and in our schools? And if we’re teaching it, are those lessons being learned?"

Admirable traits, for sure, but they are not the most pressing need in our community - especially in the Mehlville School District.  

"Are we teaching it in our homes and in our schools?"

Absolutely! I know that we (my wife Elaine and I) are teaching it at home, and I know first hand my two boys are learning it in the Mehlville School District.

Anyone who follows the district, and as editor of the Mehlville Patch has , the Mehlville School District has undertaken a massive effort in character education called .  It has been so successful that 14 of our schools received National Character Education Awards.  

But I don't need to see the awards to know that it is true, I have seen my children and their teachers interact on a regular basis.  Often times, the teachers go out of their way.  My son's second grade teacher was a prime example just the other evening.  As my son and several of his classmates were bored playing baseball, their teacher came out to Henderson Fields in Fenton to root them on.  In return she received many hugs, kisses and teeth-filled smiles from her students.  They are not just educational widgets who were in her class last year, they are a part of her extended family, and it shows.

Squeezing Blood From a Turnip

The bottom line is that there are many things that Mehlville would like to teach their students.  Unfortunately, 30 years ago there was a shift in the political climate that came to a head in the first part of this decade and now schools have no choice but to teach to a test or risk the inevitable "Failing School" designation.

All the while, the United States of America is becoming a melting pot of inadequacy. Belgium, Hong Kong, Germany, the Czeck Republic and Finland all rank higher than the U.S. (tied for 25th with Latvia and Spain) in math, reading, and science education.

I can promise you this, it's not because our kids are not working hard enough.  That is a cop-out excuse often trumpeted by a generation of people (The Selfish Generation) who siphoned as much opportunity from this world as they could possibly muster, and then refuse to give anything back.

The Mehlville School District doesn't have a hard work problem. They have a funding problem. They also have a leadership problem. Many on the board of education are tainted by a fantasy that this is the same America that my grandfather graduated from in 1944.  It is not, and if you are reading this blog post, you are experiencing this game-changer first hand, technology and globalization.

At the risk adding to the self-loathing pygmalion effect of Mehlville feeling like it simply does not deserve better, I have to say, with leadership like this, our children's first obstacle on their way to success will be overcoming our school board members and their role in this community.