There is no doubt that education determines economic and social status, but that assessment doesn't take into account the personal value of learning, Mississippi's Commissioner of Higher Education says.
David Potter spoke Tuesday night at the Excellence in Education awards reception at the Leflore County Civic Center. The awards, presented by the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, salutes teachers who have been nominated by their students and colleagues.
Potter said the focus on education centers more and more around its monetary value.
"We are transforming as a nation from an industrial and post-industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy," he explained.
Statistics show that education level determines class, Potter said. He referred specifically to affluent regions of the country where a large portion the population holds professional degrees - Silicon Valley in California, the Route 128 Corridor in Boston and the Austin, Texas, Metroplex.
"The gap between not getting a high school education and a professional degree is about $63,000 a year," Potter said.
Potter asserted that Mississippi must adapt to the changing society, "creating a highly skilled workforce and securing our match in this knowledge-based economy."
But, he said, "statistics don't really tell the whole story."
Education's impact on "personal quality of life" is often overlooked in a society consumed with statistics, he said. "I think the most powerful stories are the individual lives and how those individual lives are affected by education."
Potter's own life is a telling example.
The son of a blacksmith's helper with a sixth-grade education and a mother who quit school after the eighth grade, Potter says he found refuge in his schooling. He excelled in high school, sometimes having to paint houses to help his family make ends meet. He went on to graduate from Amherst College and earned his master's and doctorate degrees from Syracuse University. And his professional career has ascended the ranks of higher education from his days as a sociology and anthropology professor at Denison University in Ohio to the presidency of Delta State.
In the spring, Potter was named the state's commissioner of higher education.
He traces the fire that lit this lifelong passion for education back to his grade school and the teachers who showed him the discipline and emotional involvement that come with learning.
"Good teaching is life-changing," he said.
The teachers who received Excellence in Education awards Tuesday were:
- Ramla Bahadur of Greenwood High School.
- Marietta Branch of Pillow Academy.
- Juanita Durham of Leflore County Elementary.
- Gwendolyn Evans of Pillow Academy.
- Beverly Gaines Harrison of East Elementary.
- Olivia Potts Henderson of Amanda Elzy Elementary.
- Dianne W. Jones of St. Francis School.
- Rakesha Jones of East Elementary.
- Eddis Mitchell of Davis Elementary.
- Pam Myers of Pillow Academy.
- Emily O'Bryant of Leflore County High School.
- Viola Parnell of Bankston Elementary.
- Lachada Robie of Greenwood Middle School.
- Dorothy Shelby of Claudine Brown Elementary.
- Judy Willey of Amanda Elzy High School.
- T.J. Welch of the Greenwood Career & Technical Center.
- Barbara Baxter White of Leflore County High School.
