Charjeam Elementary

I saw a picture of the high school that I attended in the early 1970's and that started me thinking about the schools that I went to. Memphis was, at one time, very concerned about the education of it's children. That has changed, from what I see today Memphis is a city that abandoned education and gave up it's school system to the county. Yes, the city that I grew up in showed that they cared and put a lot in to the schools they built. I cannot understand why this city and state did the things they did. The state of Tennessee changed the system that worked for years by turning the Jr High Schools into Middle Schools to save money at the expense of our children's education. When you take away Music programs like Band and Choir

from our schools you take away a child's ability to learn how to use math in practical applications and how to work with others as a team. Sports in schools is not just a monetary expense, it is a learning experience for every student, not just the members of the team on the field, but also the members of the team in the bleachers. The experience that our kids have been deprived of, like art and music,will give them less of an education then we had.

Airways Jr High School

The elementary school I went to was not as elegant as those that were built in the days before the Second World War and had a 1950's Tennessee State institutional style look. Charjean Elementary School was beautiful to all the students that went there, even if the style wasn't as elegant as some of her counterparts in a city that had abandoned them and the students that needed it and the teachers that would work to keep our kids educated there. I see more and more of the schools that our tax dollars built closed to the detriment of a once great city. Airways Jr High School was one of those schools closed and allowed to be taken over by an academy, whatever in the wide world of education that is. Airways also had a industrial beauty about her that was born of the late 1960's. Don't let her straight boxy look fool you, this school was built to be a state of the art educational facility of it's day and is still in the best condition it can possibly be. It is a shame that the city just doesn't seem to care about our school or the children of its citizens anymore. I went to Airways and love to tell anyone that will listen how great it is.

Memphis Tech High School

Memphis Technical High School was the first high school built in Memphis, Tennessee and it has that grand old southern style that lets you know that education is important to this city, or at least it was in those days. When you walk her halls you can feel the ghosts of her past. Her famous students were actors, musicians and educators. I would have said politicians but they are the ones that have made a mockery of the Memphis School System.

Both the state and city should be ashamed of the destruction of an education system that could have been the envy of the world. With the money that the state collects from the lottery for education why is this happening. You and I both know how good it can be and should be. If you were a corporation looking for a city or a state to locate in would you pick a state that has an education system in such a mess? It's not to late to fix this disaster, I see a few of the states politicians who are trying, but we need to get them all on board. Tennessee should be the number one state in education in the world. We have built the infrastructure for a great system, we just need to utilize it properly. Teachers and educators must be the leaders, not politicians, to get politics out of the class room. Parents must be involved to keep their children's interest in the forefront of the educational system. In the age of the information highway known as the Internet, we must innovate the classroom to get students involved and energized in their futures.

The schools that I attended endowed me with a love of purpose and people that I have nurtured for my 60 years. It made me wish that I had absorbed more from the teachers and the institution that was freely given to me.