Published in the Beacon Hill Paper, May 26, 1998

Ignorance has a steep price.

The first price we pay is economic. The Massachusetts economy is booming today but is headed for hard times because skilled workers are simply not available. There is a vast gulf, illustrated by unanswered want ads that stuff the Sunday papers while workers remain underemployed, barely able to earn enough to scrape by. Massachusetts businesses literally must import help from India or Europe because the homegrown work force is simply not up to snuff.

The second price is in social disorder. Virtually all of the most pernicious social problems society faces -- including crime and poverty -- can point to mis-education as their cause. The fact is that well-educated individuals do not steal. Well-educated individuals are not impoverished. Well-educated citizens contribute to society; they are not a burden on it.

The final price is the least easily quantified but the most costly. Poorly educated individuals; simply cannot live up to their full potential as human beings. America is the land or opportunity, but people who cannot read, write or do math have little opportunity.

For too long, education has been treated as the sole prerogative of local governments. Only recently have state governments gotten more involved, providing additional funding to cities and towns whose tax bases are insufficient to support their schools.

The federal government has been for the most part standoffish, however. Thus, while it is common -- indeed, expected -- that the federal government will play a large role in building the physical infrastructure of the nation, it is uncommon -- and controversial -- for the government to play a role in building the human infrastructure of the country.

It's time for a reassessment, time to declare a war on ignorance.

Unlike the 1960s "War on Poverty" which boosted federal spending but had no coherent strategy, a War on Ignorance has a simple, three-part attack.

First, federal funds for education need to be sharply increased and channeled downwards to localities. Funds need to be available both for school construction and for operations, particularly for the hiring of additional teachers.

Second, the increase of fund needs to be linked a clear performance standards for both teachers and students. Comprehensive measures of success or failure are critical for evaluating not only individual students, but also for evaluating the health of an individual school or school system.

Finally, the increase in funds also needs to be linked to innovation and decentralization of school systems. These innovations include schools such as the charter schools and the pilot schools Boston is experimenting with. They include a willingness to get rid of the highly centralized bureaucracy that typifies most urban school and system and instead decentralize power and control to school based boards of trustees.

Boston can't do it on its own. Nor for that matter can urban communities through out Massachusetts or throughout the country.

Education is the most important investment a people can make in themselves. It's a long-term investment to be sure; it will take a generation for the fruits of that seed to be seen. It's a 20 year war, and it's time to begin the battle.