Without question, Utah has enormous educational challenges. But the state also has some considerable advantages in comparison with some of its U.S. sisters.
During a weeklong seminar at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, a program of the University of Maryland, it was fascinating to put Utah's problems into a national perspective.Much of the course centered on the problems of multiculturalism and big-city schools where children cope with poverty, racial segregation and/or tension, language limitations, educational deprivation, gangs, violence and drugs on a scale that has never existed in Utah.
Our state hasn't entirely escaped any of these problems, and all of them represent growing concerns, but they aren't so deeply entrenched that the situation seems hopeless.
In many of the country's dying metropolises, to hear some of the seminar speakers, there seems almost no hope for reprieve. The chances that children in some of these inner cities will get the full value of education - which would, in turn, help to ameliorate some of the problems - seem slim.
During the seminar, we heard about striking examples of schools where heroic efforts are being made to salvage the cause. They were impressive but predictably involved either huge infusions of money or the strong leadership of one individual. When that leader moves on, the effort may end.
New York Education Chancellor Joseph A. Fernandez confirmed that suspicion when he said a strong site-based management program he initiated while head of the Dade County, Fla., system began falling into decline when he left for New York.
Many of the country's best educational minds and significant resources are being brought to bear on America's education tragedy, but the news certainly isn't good.
Utah, partly by virtue of its shorter history, has not developed problems of the magnitude described. The kind of decay that plagues many American cities hasn't taken hold on the Wasatch Front. We haven't the miles of decrepit tenements and row houses that become the abode of hopelessness. The dismal cycle - lack of education that leads to poverty that leads to lack of education - is not the norm here.
The trick now is to avoid the evolution of such problems.
From an educational standpoint, Utah's homogenous population, with relatively few minority students, is both a blessing and a disadvantage.
The challenges of mixing ethnic groups and providing equal educational opportunity for all are not so demanding here. The child who comes to school without any English skills is not the commonplace here that he is elsewhere.
On the other hand, more Utah schools miss the richness of cultural diversity than otherwise. While other states struggle to keep the diverse ingredients of a seething melting pot at peace, the challenge here is to help children understand the beauties of variety.
The demographic handwriting is on the wall. Before the turn of the century, white Anglo Americans will be the minority in the United States. Utah will doubtless be impacted.
The time for educational leadership to anticipate and prepare is now.