by Keith Cantrell

Created on: March 24, 2009

When a school experiences overcrowding, there is only one thing to do: move students. The best and most fair way to do this is redistricting. There is a reason why political boundaries are changed through redistricting and the same is true of school districts. It keeps students at a manageable level and is one of the tools to help improve the learning environment of students.

However, focusing on this issue alone is completely missing the point of modern education. In some urban areas no amount of redistricting will improve the ailing schools. Not only are they facing severe overcrowding but they also suffer from decaying buildings, inadequate equipment and supplies, aging infrastructure and ill-prepared or untrained teachers. Coupled with a shoestring budget this is a definite recipe for disaster. The symptoms are all around us, especially in students who graduate without the basic skills necessary to be successful in a hostile world.

There are gangs, drugs, violence and public employees who don't care enough to work for change. There are kids from unhealthy home environments where education is not valued. There are school boards who cannot compromise or agree on an effective plan of action to save our children from destruction. There are administrators who see their job only as a stepping stone to a better career opportunity. Then there are the parents who brought these children into the world and entrusted them to a failing systemand who don't understand how a community of people work together for a better future for their children or who think education is a simple waste of time for their kids.

With all these problems, I would think that redistricting is the least thing we should worry about. But, what can we do about it? Simply throwing money at it is like paying a failing company to keep making faulty products. What we need is a national plan for guidance and a local plan for implementation and only one of the factors will be redistricting. We need money, but we need to know how to spend it and what to spend it on. We need teachers but they should be the best trained teachers in the world. We need school boards but they need to have compassion and the willpower to cooperate for the sake of our kids. We need administrators but they should value the credibility of students, teachers and parents.

Without bravery, cooperation, high standards, sustainability and endurance, our education system, with or without redistricting is on a collision course with failure.

Learn more about this author, Keith Cantrell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.