Ronald Reagan

I wasn't sure how to title this post, but since it had to do a little with Ronald Reagan, I would title it as such. For some reason, I recall a debate in a high school class about the upcoming presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. If I remember correctly, though somewhat hazily, most of the girls supported the incumbent Jimmy Carter and the boys the challenger, Reagan. I remember following that election and Reagan's subsequent terms as president as I grew through high school and college.

This memory came back to me while reading an article in the May 2008 edition of The School Administrator. Joseph Cirasuolo wrote about connecting and introduced his piece with the story of how Reagan managed to get many bills passed even though he faced a divided Congress his first two years and both houses controlled by Democrats the next two years. Cirasuolo's claim is that Reagan's ability to communicate directly to the American people, who then pushed their representatives to support those initiatives, was key to his success.

Cirasuolo goes on to outline the connections that Reagan built and the connections educators need to build to combat the array of critics taking aim at public education. While this is true, I think many of those connections are already built. Each district and school has built connections with the community in which they reside, with the community and business leaders, and the parents. What is truly needed is the direct communication that Reagan used so skillfully. As educators, we must continually communicate the positive things that schools and districts are doing for our students. Without that critical piece, the naysayers and critics will continue to overwhelm the populace with their negativity.