OPINION: Educators, Empower LI students to tackle issues
Edward Thompson is vice president for advancement of Molloy College.
Amid the tremors of last month's local elections - which rumbled right up to this week's concession by Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi - a disturbing fact flew largely under the radar: Only 22 percent of Long Island's registered voters actually exercised their franchise.
It's hard to see a statistic like that and not think, "I guess people don't care anymore."
But average Long Islanders do care. We care very much about the likelihood that our children will move away; that we have some of the highest energy prices in the nation; that school-tax increases have outstripped ability to pay; and that the very reasons we have chosen to live here may no longer exist.
The issue is less about caring and more about empowerment. Many of us have become resigned to the belief that we simply can't fix the system - or, worse, that the system is fixed.
But our regional psyche need not wallow in self-pity. The way out, as it always is, is through education. The challenge is to create an educational structure that directly addresses our problems.
Colleges have historically built notions of community and the common good into their normal curriculum. But given the urgency of our time, traditional ideas and teaching methods regarding abstract concepts like democracy and civics are insufficient. We need to get into specifics.
A more effective curriculum for Long Island institutions poses questions like these: How can Long Island build a renewable energy future? How can entrepreneurs thrive in this new area? How can it drive new industries? Education focused on these technical issues will provide a firm foundation for the potential green industry on Long Island.
As important as such technical training is a crash course in how Long Island really works. We simply cannot accept the deflating perception that the problems we face are too numerous, too intractable, to be solved. Students must overcome this paralyzing notion if we are to see increased civic participation among their ranks.
Education that focuses squarely on the social and political reality of Long Island can give the next generation a head start on these vexing questions: Why does Long Island have more than 900 taxing districts? Why is school funding so much better on one side of the road than the other? What is the economic and social cost to the de facto segregation we have come to accept? How do these issues interrelate?
And, perhaps most important, what solutions best serve the common good?
Some of our institutions of higher learning are already tackling these kinds of questions, which engender the type of education that transforms a student, an industry and, in time, a community. The others must join in.
Long Islanders need to recognize that they have the power and - with the right tools, and the right political leaders - the ability to solve these problems. This confidence is critical for an engaged population. We educators must instill this belief in the next generation, for if they don't care, who will?
