To the editor:

Life got harder.

I’m not sure when it happened – probably around the time I was flying helicopters over the Pyramids on the Nile or airplanes into Sarajevo. Sometime around then - after the Wall fell down - the challenge for America changed from the epic confrontation of the Cold War to the subtle struggle of Globalization.

Globalization is a funny word. It summons many different connotations – both good and bad. Whether or not you’re a fan of Globalization, however, one thing is abundantly clear: our children will have to be much smarter than you and I. India and China – even folks in Latin America – these people want we have and are aggressively competing for this planet’s dwindling resources.

Well, that was a pretty “pie-in-the-sky” sort of statement – and it wasn’t even very clever. Turn on your television to any business program and they’ll tell you the same. But what does that really mean to you?

It means that the days of cruising through High School and getting a good, stable job are over. It means that your children will have to compete for things you and I took for granted.

Now please don’t paint me as an Isolationist. I’m not saying America’s finest days are over, and I’m not saying we can’t compete.

What I am saying is that your children MUST compete – they’ll have to fight for the same financial and economic security that you and I enjoy.

And for those who have made their fortune and will soon be retiring – please remember that these are the same workers who’ll be fueling our economy, funding your social security, and keeping the stock markets alive and vibrant. Those who think they needn’t worry about a well-educated work force need to think again.

Which leads me to my salient point. Believe it or not, your children – from the wee little ones in the Primary School to those oh, so unflappable teens – are scoring better than they’ve ever had before. The reason they’ve done so - in my opinion - is because Morgan County teachers have “raised the bar” on their own expectations and increased the rigor of our schools.

Now, rigor isn’t a funny word. It reminds me of sweat and toil, and that Marine Corps Gunny Sergeant who, in less than flowering terms, informed me what a maggot I was for not climbing up that wall as fast as he wanted. Rigor means more difficult, more engaged. It means harder.

All our schools have increased their rigor – and they’re all showing positive results. But perhaps the most visible change has been at the High School with their new IB (International Baccalaureate) program.

Believe it or not, one third of the students at MCHS are taking college-level courses. That is an amazing feat, and something we should be very proud of.

But college-level means more work – it means more rigor – it means harder.

Harder is not a beloved word in today’s lexicon. With today’s cornucopia of cool technology - GPS direction finders, ipods, cell phones, satellite radio and the internet - it’s obvious we desperately want things to be easier - not harder.

But harder is a vital necessity in the education of today’s teens – at least if they want to prosper in a world of Globalization.

That’s why I like the philosophy of our IB teachers. They talk of challenging students with ever increasing difficulty - all while offering a “scaffolding” or “bridge” of support. In other words, the teachers are personally invested in every teen. If a teen starts to slip under the weight of the more rigorous work, the teacher can “catch” them with the underlying support that only a local high school can provide.

This “scaffolding of support” will not be present at college. Anyone who has been to the halls of higher learning knows that no one is going to hold your hand – no one cares whether you graduate or not. In fact, nation-wide, only one fourth of students who start college ever graduate from anywhere! That is a sobering and daunting fact.

That’s why I’m so supportive of the AP and IB programs we have at MCHS: because they allow our teens to challenge themselves in an environment where teachers are there to actually support them.

But there’s not much point offering college-level courses to students who will only do high school level work. Our school system has done an amazing job offering high-level courses that you and I could have only dreamed about when we were teens. But teachers can’t make kids study – they can’t make them work hard. That is a job for us parents, and of course, for the students themselves.

Parents – do your kids a favor and convince them study. Encourage them to “raise the bar” on their own expectations - and work even harder to achieve them.

Dave Belton
Buckhead, GA