A COMMENTARY BY MARY LE CLARK

I am writing this paper because I am concerned.  I am concerned about every student in O’Fallon.  I am concerned about their families. I am concerned about our community.  I am concerned about our nation.

Let me ask  a question-- How do you view the state of our nation?  Perhaps disquieting?  Maybe even terrifying?  Consider that a nation is only as strong as each individual family making up the whole.

Today, I am concerned because at O’Fallon Township High School there is an eroding of the Career and Technical Education programs.  Specifically, I am concerned about the chipping away of the Family and Consumer Sciences department.

I was astounded when I learned that the new school in O’Fallon was built without FACS labs.  There is an old Chinese proverb that says : “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember.  Involve me and I’ll understand.”   I think it is  accurate to say  “Science with Practice” is all but impossible without laboratories.

Fads come and go!  We experimented with building grade schools without walls between the classrooms.  It was even thought that desks for the students were not...