According to the latest Winthrop Poll, more than half the population of surveyed South Carolinians feel that our state’s economy is good and is getting better. However, when asked what the most important problem facing the state was, only 12.8 percent answered with education. This contrasts to the 24 percent who believed jobs and employment to be the most important issue, and the 14 percent who responded with the economy.
In a state notorious for consistently low literacy rates and an education system that the U.S. scrapes off the bottom of its shoe year after year, we’re shocked that people don’t think education is a bigger problem than it is. While jobs and the economy are important, we have to keep in mind that the very foundation of a good economy and a good job market is a well-educated population of people. Knowledge is what drives progression, and Gov. Nikki Haley, who so humbly dubs herself the “jobs governor,” would do well to remember this the next time she denies funding for USC.
In fact, all our state politicians should keep that in mind. Just last year, the state Superintendent of Education Mick Zais turned down $144 million in education stimulus funds from the federal government, an abysmal decision for a state that so desperately needs it. His justification was that South Carolina doesn’t need “federal intrusion” to improve its schools.
Well, evidently we do. In fact, we need more than just federal “intrusion;” we could use some state intrusion as well. And by “intrusion” we actually mean any attention at all. Success starts from the grassroots, and it’s about time South Carolina invests in ours.