There should be no goal more unifying than the desire for better public schools, regardless of which direction you lean or the side of the aisle on which you sit.
Whether you are trying to take the steps from below average to average or from great to elite, we should all want better.
Better for our kids. Better for our community. Better for our future.
Certainly, that path is debated, and there are divergent opinions on exactly how to proceed. President Truman once said, "It's amazing what can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit."
Jay GreesonWhile he was not talking about a school system, he surely could have.
We offer that this morning in light of recent good news for Hamilton County Schools.
High school graduation rates climbed 2 percent in 2018 as compared to the previous year, according to state figures.
That's excellent. Those who only point fingers at the bad and never praise the success will become negative Chatty Cathy dolls with strings no one ever wants pulled.
Kudos to all involved. And while we are spreading the good news of the Hamilton County school system, now would seem to be an apropos time to mention that six Signal Mountain Middle High School students were among the 24 regional National Merit Scholarship semifinals last month. That's the most of any school in the area, including the private schools.
Again, success deserves to be celebrated.
But all news - good or not - is fleeting.
Yes, Hamilton County's grad rates are up - highlighted, in part, by a five-percent jump at Howard - but our 86.6 percent of seniors getting a diploma is still below the state average of 89.1. And for a county that ranks in the top five in Tennessee on money spent per student, below state average is well below expectations.
Every time the test results come in - either exceeding expectations or falling below goals - we have to ask what the test scores or graduation rates really mean.
We must continually ask that question and let it guide our educators to our ultimate goal: Improvement.
Do our rising graduation rates mean we are sending more young adults into the world with more than a piece of paper that shows they completed requirements to graduate? Are these young adults ready for work? Can they succeed in a technical program? Are they prepared for community college or university?
We will have to wait on answers to those questions - and trust that our school district is mindful of those questions. We want to see the district keep pushing toward the goal of being better today than yesterday, or last month or last year.
Achievement is measured in small steps, like a two-percent improvement in graduation rates. Those small steps can become giant strides if we stay committed and focused on the pursuit of our shared goal.
Contact staff writer Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343.