June, 2005

It’s been an interesting twenty-four hours.  A series of meetings and events between last evening and this one illustrate the differences in worldviews our community represents.  As I write this (May 24^th), these things have occurred in our community:

• On the front page of the Marion Star, Harding High School students discuss their personal concerns about impending cuts to City School programs.  Some are reluctantly considering changing schools or moving from the community to get the education they require. 
• Inside the Star a letter writer accuses the school board of whining and wasting money.  He accuses the City School System of providing only a minimal education.  And he makes the astounding statement that “These levies are not for education but for operating expenses.”  Since over 80% of the schools’ operating expenses are teacher salaries and benefits and since teachers are the direct providers of the educational product, it’s hard to know what he means.
• At Ohio State/Marion, outstanding high school juniors are honored and informed about educational opportunities at the OSU campuses here in Marion and in Columbus.  As OSU becomes more competitive, the speaker discussed the importance of including advanced courses and extra curricular activities on the application for admission.
• At the same time, a mile to the north, 250 people crowd Marion Harding’s cafetorium to discuss potential cuts in extra-curricular activities like sports and music in the wake of recent levy failures.
• While their parents and school administrators wrestle with possible cuts to music and sports programs, optimistic Harding students perform dance auditions for the high school’s standout show choir, The Harding Singers—even as the future of that group is being debated.
• And at the Palace Theatre, in spite of recent letter writers who urge more discipline in the schools, 325 student members of Harding’s state-superior-rated choirs display remarkable discipline, performing complex five-part choral selections in at least four different languages during their spring concert.

The juxtaposition of these events, all in one 24-hour period, indicates, at least to me, a paradigm shift underway in Marion.  For many, many years this was an us-versus-them community.  There were those who owned the factories and those who worked in them.  The owners ran the town and the workers grumbled, staged strikes now and then, but generally took their pay and lived their lives.  For some, that’s still the way the world looks.  The letter writer mentioned above speaks in class-conscious terms.  He speaks of the “well-to-do” as a group separate and apart from the regular citizens of our community.  A participant in one of the City Schools’ town meetings suggested that “rich folks” pay $500 apiece to support the programs in the schools while “poor folks” contribute nothing.  “Us” versus “them.” 

While it may be comfortable to hunker down in a particular social group, there are times when we need to step outside those narrow boundaries and into the larger community, to confront our collective issues.  Adequate schools are everybody’s issue, no matter who your neighbors are or how much you earn.  Economic development, downtown revitalization, transportation improvements—these are the issues that affect all of us, no matter where in the Greater Marion area we call home.  Staying fractured only weakens our community.  It allows other communities, who have their collective acts together, to attract new employment and gain government benefits.  Infighting is a sure turn-off to any company considering a new place to do business.

On the other hand, it is through a spirit of cooperation and partnership that real progress is made in almost any endeavor—from fixing school funding to building a better hometown.  Who are the leaders who will draw us together and shift the paradigm?  Our community can’t afford the infighting any longer.