Quid Est Veritas: "Scholas Publica"

By Patrick Weadon

“The American idea is a free church in a free state and a free and non-sectarian public school in every ward and every village with its door wide open to children of all races and every creed.” - Henry Cabot Lodge

Severna Park is nice place to live. I like to think of the area as kind of a Bethesda/Chevy Chase for people who like to live near the water. With the relatively high degree of affluence, it is likely that some of us who live here have private security guards. There are also probably a number of people who employ private ambulance services and others who have elaborate fire suppression systems in their homes to protect against unexpected conflagrations.

Those affluent enough to deal with potential catastrophes “extra societatem” are I guess, on some level, to be envied. However, most of us, even those who are doing well financially don’t have private guards or personal fire and medical services. When trouble strikes, most of us call public organizations. These services are of course financed by taxes. Many reading this column don’t like the idea of taxes. The good news, of course, is that these organizations do an amazing job at protecting us, and most importantly, they serve everyone.

When you call the Anne Arundel County Police or Fire Department, they do not ask if you are rich or poor or who you voted for in the last election. Because of the public nature of their mission, they are duty-bound to serve. But policemen and firemen, while critical, are only part of the corps of public servants whose work is indispensible in keeping society afloat.

I currently have a son and daughter at Severna Park High School. Last month as I walked out of Severna Park High School on parents’ night, I thought of another group of dedicated public servants, namely teachers. That night I had the privilege of listening to one of my son’s social studies instructors, Mr. Kandra. He only spoke to us for 10 minutes, but during my time in his class I had the thought that if all of my children’s teachers are as bright, engaged, talented and dedicated as Mr. Kandra (and I believe they are), then we can be exceedingly proud of the role that our public high school plays in providing the opportunity for all of the children of Severna Park to develop their potential.

One point: this column is not intended to be some screed against private schools. I myself attended St. Johns in Washington and I interact every day with students from institutions like Severn Prep, Archbishop Spalding, Indian Creek, and Chesapeake Academy. If these young people are any indicator, these schools appear to be doing an amazing job of producing bright, capable citizens, many of whom will likely become our future leaders. But like our police and fire departments, the parents who foot the bill to send their kids to the aforementioned schools can be proud that their hard-earned dollars, in the form of taxes, are also going to institutions that serve the entire community.

Those who loathe public schools and the teachers who work so hard to make them effective may be able to point fingers at some public institutions, but not here. The fact is we not only have a good public school, we have a stupendous one, one that was just named a national Blue Ribbon school.

That brings me to my final point. Severna Park High may be worthy of Blue Ribbon status, but in the area of education, our County Executive and county council deserve “Black Ribbons” for failing to ensure that our award-winning faculty and students have the facilities and resources they need to continue to excel. We have a world-class high school, but it is being let down by our political leaders who have been shown to be “world class cowards” at getting the tax dollars required to ensure a just and an educated society.

Private schools are an important part of the fabric of our nation, but for the most part it is in the halls of our public institutions that the next generation of America’s body politic is being formed. We ignore them at our own peril.