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March 26, 2009 | 10:50 AM
In "The Tipping Point," when Malcolm Gladwell argues that, "If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people will walk by and conclude that no one cares," it seems he is directly describing the schools of Shoreham-Wading River.
It might be easy for community members to ignore the abominable conditions of the buildings in this district, but for the students forced to learn in these environments, they are a perpetual source of shame and discouragement.
Students sit next to non-insulated windows circa 1970 and either must wear their winter coats or shiver through the lesson. Furthermore, in most cases these seats can't be left vacant because classrooms are overcrowded. Mirrors are broken or missing. Bathroom stall doors don't close and haven't for months. Brown stains permeate the ceiling tiles. Most of the library's books are older than students.
My peers constantly discuss the lack of pride among the student body, for want of an explanation.
The explanation is simple: the schools in this district are at their breaking points and have been for years, yet they remain unrepaired. This community repeatedly demonstrates to its students that no one cares.
So this community needs to ask itself if it does indeed care about the quality of the education its youth is receiving. If the answer is yes, then we need to start asking ourselves different kinds of questions. Instead of questioning whether it's possible for our students to learn in classrooms filled with brown moldy-looking stains and leaky ceilings, we need to question what kind of message it sends to students forced to learn in these conditions, and how many of them have, as a result, lost interest in learning altogether. Instead of asking ourselves if Smartboards are necessary, we should ask ourselves how excited students will get about this new technology and, by extension, about learning.
This might all sound like flowery rhetoric, but as a student athlete, my teammates and I have hung our heads in shame while members of visiting teams cringed at or even openly mocked the condition of our school. I have also watched students hugging each other in celebration of a new Smartboard's installation — and literally hugging the smart board itself.
I know from experience how frustrating it can be to navigate the bureaucracy of the school district. I am not saying that I agree with everything the administration does, nor do I think the district should be handed a blank check. But I do ask that community members consider the bond that was defeated last April. It would have directly benefited students, not raised staff salaries, and it would have cost citizens no more than $25 per month. Most of these same citizens likely spend more money each month on cable TV, cell phones or even coffee.
Anyone who has ever used his "no" vote to express his contempt for administrators or his frustration with their policies achieved little more than the neglect of the educational needs of this community's children. Like it or not, administrative cuts will always be a last resort and teachers' salaries and benefits are contractually protected. There is no student's union; it is the community's responsibility to fight for our welfare.
The budget vote is a referendum on whether or not to fund our children's educations, not on how those funds should be allocated. The forum for the latter debate is neither at the polls nor in print, but at Board of Education meetings. Please go and express your grievances there. If the community indeed has the interests of its students at heart, it needs to find a new means to debate these issues and it eventually needs to be willing to compromise. Without eventual hope of consensus, defamation of the school district will only entrench both parties further in stalemate; the American public school system isn't going anywhere.
If the school district continues to be the West Bank of this community, then I and the rest of my generation will be glad to be able to make our homes somewhere else. And certainly, it will be somewhere that the value of our property is not put in jeopardy by the deteriorating schools. It will be somewhere that the community's actions will constantly remind our children that their educations are indescribably important, perhaps even priceless.
Our schools have the potential to be a source of pride for this community, as they once were — if the community allows them to be. Let's make this our new goal and find some common ground. Let's stop the bickering and start a discussion.
Katie Gostic is the student government president at Shoreham-Wading River HS.
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