MUMBLINGS May 19, 2005

Sometimes I think our greatest fault is the fault of fault finding. Finding fault is as easy as falling off a slick log, backwards. It takes no brains.

Uncle Sam and the United States of America are known far and wide to be the best in the world. A person living here, if he has normal good health, normal intelligence and the right attitude, cannot only make a living but also do better by helping God and his fellow man.

Constructive criticism is often a good thing. Some people act as though they don't want any criticism, constructive or otherwise.

By now you're probably wondering what all this is about. It is about critics of our educational system.

No one knows better than I that education in Alabama can be improved greatly but considering the money we have to spend on it, it's probably one of the best in the United States. If our education leaders had the same amount of money that is spent by the average state, our boys and girls could be even smarter.

Baldwin County has one of the best systems in Alabama; yet we have numerous critics, and many faultfinders who have no constructive answers.

Dumbness, whether it is boy or girl, man or woman who has average intelligence and health, have no excuse for ignorance. Some people blame it on parents and yes that is true in many cases and since this is true, it is up to our schools to improve our intelligence level.

I can say without the fear of intelligent contradiction, that no county school system in Alabama is better than Baldwin's. However, even we can make improvements and are doing so.

It was my good luck to graduate from high school in 1932. Schools are several times better now in Alabama than back then, which was in the depression days when teachers weren't even being paid some months.

Don't listen to us old-timers who say boys and girls aren't as smart now as they used to be. They are much smarter. One reason being, they have better educational opportunities than we had.

Perhaps the worst problem we have in education one through twelve is discipline. Lack in discipline is no stranger here in Baldwin but in many cases, federal laws prohibit teachers and school administrators from administering punishment where it would do the most good. A disobedient student is sent home for two to three days or a week or whatever. Nothing could make most of the kids happier than to miss school for a while. Frankly, I don't know the answer. Someone is bound to be smart enough to come up with a better solution than we have today.

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Pardon the personal reference but I'll take backseat to no one in my interest in education. My mother taught school for 39 years, never making as much as $1,000 a year; my brother, Dr. T.L. Faulkner was state director of vocation and higher education. I was a member of the Alabama Commission On Higher Education and have been honored numerous times for service to education.

I have not seen a school tax I didn't favor, even though like everyone, my desire to pay higher taxes is nil. But education is more important than low taxes.

Considering the above, let's get to the point. Let's get more to the point in our minds. It is regretful that municipalities like Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and now Daphne are considering having their own city schools. Certainly there is nothing wrong with city schools if the people are willing to pay for them. They cost more and are probably not any more effective if the local people in each city aren't willing to give much more support and money and otherwise.

There's nothing wrong with Daphne, for example, for spending money to investigate possibilities of improvement. But they should know in advance what the answers are. Problems just as many if not more, much more expensive. And perhaps most important of all would not be a part of this fine Baldwin County system.

Saraland and Mobile have made a study of city systems and apparently have decided it's a no-go situation. I have no doubt our cities will come to the same conclusion and stay a part of this great Baldwin County School System.

We have some fine cities and municipalities here in Baldwin County. But none are as great as Baldwin County as a whole.

See you again soon, I hope.