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Until our church in Atlanta asked us to host a Russian Pentecostal family of five at our house in 1988, I never really appreciated what it means to have free public schools.
Our immigrants were amazed and delighted with many things about American life, but the idea that everybody could go to school for free was the best surprise.
Pentecostals did not have the right to go to school without paying for it in Russia when the Jews and Pentecostals were finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union after it dissolved under Gorbachev.
Being able to read and write in English was the key to our Russian family's economic success, and the parents really wanted their children to have that opportunity in the United States.
In fact, good basic skills in reading and writing are necessary for the economic wellbeing of all Americans.
Now the public schools in West Virginia are going through a painful period of change, and people are critical of what the county school system has to offer.
Some of the demands on our system are simply not feasible. We have a shrinking population of older folks who do not want to pay higher property taxes, and the number of young working people is declining.
In addition to demographic realities of an aging population, we have too much political pressure for school choice in rural communities where there are not enough children to earn the tax allotment necessary for one school -- much less an array of options including charter schools, home and virtual schooling.
Modern American consumerism has spoiled us all. We think we should have just what we want, on demand, right now. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and now with the internet, we can see over the fence into richer communities all over the world.
Although we need to make changes, we are fortunate to have free public schools. We can work with our school boards and superintendents to make things better by volunteering to help pass tax levies and support programs that serve students.
We should work toward having safer schools with qualified teachers in every classroom for all students. These are difficult times for public institutions, but we have a good new superintendent and a capable board of education in Randolph County.
What is always the challenge for educators is that none of us can know what our students will really need in the future.
Jean Piaget said it best: "Education is not to increase the amount of knowledge, but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover -- to create men and women who are capable of doing NEW THINGS."