Every family and every society has to solve the problem of what to do about the children.
How will they make their way in the world? In many societies, there’s a limited range of available futures. Not so long ago among the upper classes in England, for example, the oldest boy inherited, the second one went into the army, and the third went into the clergy. The girls — well, parents spent a lot of time and effort and money marrying them off to the first or second sons of some other family. Failures went into business (men) or became governesses (women).
In other societies, “extra” girls might be sent off to a religious order. In yet others, boys were apprenticed to the miller or the smith or the baker, or sent to sea, or they ran away to seek their fortunes. Girls had no such luck. They usually had a much narrower range of options.
In other places, everybody stayed right where they were and did what everybody else always did, adopting new grown-up versions of roles they had been practicing while they were growing up. Almost nobody went to college. In fact, it took a long time for colleges to be invented, and some places in the world don’t have them even yet.
So enough with the potted social history. You get the point. Our society has grown to be different. One of the glories of the American experiment is that almost everyone — men and women of all backgrounds — can imagine a future full of possibilities, going far beyond the traditional roles and careers that they may learn about while growing up.
The American story has been to provide access to education, including higher education, to more and more members of society over time. Harvard opened its doors in 1636. Bowdoin in 1794. University of Maine, Farmington, 1864. University of Maine, 1865. Central Maine Community College, 1964. Kennebec Valley Community College, 1970.
The brilliant thing is, of course, that it worked. Every time that education became more inclusive, more and more segments of our population were able to envision goals and dreams and pursue them.
Broader and broader access to education has been a major factor in building the vibrant American society we have inherited. Creativity, innovation, a strong civic culture, thriving businesses and vibrant artistic communities are some of the results. Democracy requires education for every new generation.
Today we don’t hear so much about dreams and aspirations, or about preserving our democratic society. We hear a lot about the expense of education and its failures. We hear there’s a mismatch between the jobs available and the skills graduates have, or don’t have.
There’s no question that it has gotten harder to deliver on the dreams and the promises for everyone. Much of the problem comes from social factors, such as income inequality, that even the hardest work by individuals and families cannot overcome. And there’s no question that we need to do some things differently.
The success of education, however, has to do with a lot more than jobs. Education transforms lives and entire societies by opening possibilities.
As taxpayers, educators, legislators and citizens, we have a responsibility to dream about the future and how to build it. We need to keep dreaming that our talented students from small towns in Maine can learn and succeed in comparable ways to students from more affluent backgrounds.
I see it every year at commencement. Our graduates are confidently entering careers in Maine and beyond. Often they are using skills learned in college for jobs that didn’t even exist when they began in higher education. Or they are entering graduate school or established fields, bringing proven professional competencies and the latest knowledge and skills.
The University of Maine System, the Maine Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy represent the most significant investment that the state makes in its people, present and future.
Add to this the outlays from the state and from each municipality’s residents for elementary and secondary school education, and finally, the amount of private investment in schools and colleges in Maine, and you have a huge amount.
There’s no question that we can always ask how to do it better and more effectively, but let’s remember why we are doing it at all.
Theodora J. Kalikow is president of the University of Maine at Farmington. She can be reached at kalikow@maine.edu
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