JACKSON - Many of the state's leaders in government, industry and education convened a mammoth consortium on Monday to address a vexing question of stimulating young minds and jump-starting the process of learning.
In a growing technological society, each day becomes paramount that Mississippi must begin producing an efficiently trained and educated work force to enable the state to attract new business and compete in the highly competitive global economy.
It is no secret there is a learning malaise buffeted by high percentages of school dropouts and teenage pregnancy - all human impediments to educating our children.
Cheap labor is no longer a panacea, when corporate America is increasingly demanding a work force with advanced college degrees that is also computer-literate. In fact, about 80 percent of new businesses entering the state require education beyond high school.
It simply makes good business sense to have a work force that can do the job. Because of many factors, Mississippi trails the pack - even Southern states - in delivering the number of highly trained workers needed by industry.
In a state that has only required compulsory school attendance for two decades, since passage of the groundbreaking Education Reform Act in 1982, Mississippi has a long road to travel in altering a perception that education has not been a priority.
But on this day, these state leaders placed substance above lip service. Since May, the 40-member Steering Committee for the Mississippi Leadership Summit on Higher Education, co-chaired by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Aubrey Patterson, CEO of BancorpSouth, have put together a multifaceted plan to ensure that children begin school ready to learn.
The committee released a 46-page report that detailed a step-by-step plan aimed at partnering the state's public and private colleges with business and industry, which will enhance the learning process.
"It's important that education be emphasized at all levels in Mississippi," Musgrove said. "It's a road map to change the way Mississippi operates."
The cornerstone of this educational blueprint contains six power points:
- Expand and improve pre-school programs.
- Enhance school partnerships.
- Raise participation and graduation rates.
- Increase access to adult education.
- Develop relationships with business and industry.
While this is an admirable educational endeavor, haven't we been down this road with previous state administrations without ever reaching the goals envisioned? What has been left is a lot of talk and little action.
Nonetheless, Musgrove says this time around the outcome is going to be different. "Our success is based on the education of our people," he said. "We are sending a message that we are serious about rising to the top."
But getting off the bottom rung of the national educational performance ladder takes money coupled with a determined effort. If the people who need to hear this aggressive learning plan are not listening, there is a problem.
And with more Mississippi children turning their backs on public instruction - especially in the Delta - members of the Steering Committee for the Mississippi Leadership Summit on Higher Education have to display a real sense of urgency in accelerating the process.
"We need human capital with a work ethic of the highest order," Patterson said. "There needs to be a whole different view - a continuum, because education is a lifelong process that never ends."
Yet there is irony here, as this ambitious report is being released while the Jake Ayers Sr. lawsuit over the inequities of state funding for historically black colleges continues to hover over Mississippi.
State lawmakers, who returned to Jackson this week, are uncertain how the 17-year, $503 million court settlement will be funded.
In a state with a 36 percent black population, many of whom have been excluded from the educational discussion in the past, the efforts of the steering committee can be a watershed.
"This is a great blueprint, but only a blueprint," said former Gov. William Winter, a member of the steering committee. "I have seen a lot of good reports on education filed and nothing happened. We Southerners can be bad about putting things off."
And that is the troubling point: Will this noble attempt go the way of yesterday's headlines, forgotten until the next crisis?
Mississippi doesn't have time for the next pinch, because we are already at an educational crossroads.
To sit back and allow another educational failure to continue is to mortgage the future of a precious human commodity, our children.
