With deepest apologies to the 16th century rapper Billy Shake, it seems as if our fair city has been overcome by the following choice: “To build, or not to build (a new minor league baseball stadium), that is the question.”
To further the tug-of-war: “Is it nobler to build a monument to sports, hoping to unite our diverse population on summer nights into a melting pot (no heat and humidity jokes intended) of different skin colors and economic means; or would it be more responsible to take arms against a sea of education troubles and by opposing them with both tax dollars and community action, end them?”
Because this seems to be the crux of the argument. New stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts on one side, or new money to throw at an old and stubborn Scenic City problem on the other: public education.
It isn’t that simple, of course. It might not even be all that accurate. There’s nothing out there that defines this as an either/or situation. Not building the new stadium on the site that has been the decades-long U.S. Pipe/Wheland Foundry eyesore does not guarantee a bank vault full of money will find its way into our education system for crumbling buildings, improved pay for teachers and the like.
And before we go any further on the overall sorry state of public schooling here, a lot of parents need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they’re doing anywhere close to all they can to help their children get the most out of the education opportunities they do have.