Statement before the Glenn A. Walsh
Council of
the
City of
Lifetime Learning Telephone:
412-561-7876
Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc >
Internet Web
Site: < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc
>
2005
November 2
Subject:
requesting a public hearing regarding
the need among
lifetime education, especially among the
city's disadvantaged residents, and the role which City government
can have in providing meaningful lifetime
education to its residents.
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Good afternoon. I am Glenn A. Walsh of
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those
who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Author
Alvin Toffler stated that quotation in the last quarter of the 20th
century. And, it has already proven true today, particularly in our heavily
urbanized society.
Successful democratic institutions rely heavily on an
educated and well-informed society. Without an educated and informed citizenry,
community decision-making is increasingly left to a minority, and the remaining
citizens become increasingly disenfranchised.
Yet, look at out public education system today. For
more than a century, we have relied on twelve years of formal public education,
with the addition of a couple more years of kindergarten and, perhaps,
pre-school added within the last 50 years. Only very recently has kindergarten,
pre-school, and for some, Head-Start, been sponsored and paid for by the
community; previously, these educational opportunities were only available to
those who could pay for it.
Likewise with the Community College movement of the
last 50 years. It has been expected that young people fresh out of high school,
often with no marketable skills, must pay to continue their education even in
Community College.
Society has agreed to pay for 12 years of schooling
for children for the last 100 years, even though today’s world is immensely
more complex, with much more information to master, than 100 years earlier.
Should we not consider adding a 13th or even 14th grade
to high schools, to truly educate our children for the new world they will be
entering? Yet, in today’s world, the taxpayers complain about the property
taxes needed just to satisfy the social commitment of 12 years of education!
So, now, we must find ways to supplement these 12
years of schooling, within current resources.
Mr. Tessitor has suggested, and I enthusiastically
agree, that one way would be for the City of
While many think that the Internet will make public
libraries obsolete, lifetime learning is a new emphasis that can help keep
Carnegie Library relevant to people of the 21st century. And, the
complete resources of the City and Carnegie Library should come to bear on this
new emphasis. Having a City-owned public library building, with a 250-seat
auditorium, completely empty and unused in a struggling neighborhood such as
Hazelwood is an outrage. When the five-year lease expires on the current,
smaller Hazelwood library, the City should demand that Carnegie Library return
the library to the historic
Thank you.
gaw