By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

AUGUSTA, Maine – The president of Maine’s largest teachers union said Gov. Paul LePage “should be ashamed of himself” for recently making disparaging remarks about the state’s public schools.

But if LePage’s charges are correct, it’s the people working in the schools who should be ashamed of themselves, and they should use the governor’s words as motivation to do a better job.

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During a recent appearance at York County Community College,  LePage suggested that Maine’s public schools do a poor overall job of educating students, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Even at the state’s best high schools, only about 60 percent of students are proficient in English and math, according to the governor.

“If you want a good education in Maine, and I get criticized by my opponents because I’m hard on education, but if you want a good education go to an academy. If you want a good education go to private schools. If you can’t afford it, tough luck. You can go to the public school,” he said. “Until the state of Maine decides, and the governor’s staff and the Legislature sit around the table and say ‘what’s best for our students,’ we are not going to fix our schools.”

Lois Kilby-Chesley, president of the MEA, responded with a press release chiding the governor for his remarks.

“We have no throw-away kids in Maine,” she was quoted as saying. “The governor should not be saying ‘tough luck’ to our Maine students.”

Actually the people causing the tough luck for the students are the people running and staffing the public schools. If the governor is correct, and only about 60 percent of students in the best of schools are proficient in the basics, it means the schools are not getting the job done.

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LePage may have used some unfortunate words to make his point, but sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes it takes a kick in the butt from a higher-ranking official to make employees realize they could do much better.

LePage could have followed the lead of so many other governors and said his state’s schools are doing a wonderful job for children. But that apparently would have been a lie.

Education is serious business. If kids are not learning, officials have a responsibility to say so. Glossing over real problems is not going to help Suzie or Johnny learn how to write or perform basic algebra.

Sometimes tough talk is necessary to wake everyone up. Thank goodness we still have a few leaders who are willing to tell it like it is.