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What do We want to be
Known for?
By Will McCabe
At college, I am friends with people all over. Some are from the
Cincinnati region, some from such small towns they make Greenville look
like Metropolis; some are not even from Ohio. Everyone likes to talk
about their hometown and their high school. Some brag about all of the
state championships their school has won in football or basketball
within the past few years. Others of how many students were in their
graduating class or how smart/academically proficient their school was
(maybe this is just a guy thing.)
Then it was my turn. I thought about it: what can I tell them about
Greenville? It would be hard to explain Jim’s to them, and Maid-Rite
and its gum-walls may not be the best route to take. So what do we have
in Greenville? What could I say that would make people think: Wow, I
need to check that place out!
We have K-mart, oh wait, that closed. We have a Staples, oh wait, that
closed too. J.C. Penny’s? You get the idea.
I thought about the high school. Yeah, our softball team is really
good, and we have had some unsung heroes in tennis and cross country
over the years, and I have also heard our basketball team is doing
pretty well this year.
But what about academics? Our scores on standardized tests are sub-par.
The number of available classes in high school has dwindled, and the
majority of electives involve science and math which subjugate students
into a math-science-based career path. I hear some students talk of
taking speech courses… in high school. I hear of different writing
courses they have taken and the positive emphasis their schools have on
education and academic excellence, while still giving them the option
of post-secondary. Who has ever heard of students brag about how smart
their graduating class was?
What is our school doing about this? A new school? That makes me think
of the age-old phrase: it is what is on the inside that counts. To have
a thriving community, we need to motivate kids, not create a shiny
building to show off and cover up the mess going on inside.
Yeah, we took away Edison and are making our own version in the
building, but doesn’t that take away the “college experience” so many
got from Edison? I met so many people from different schools, met some
amazing professors (one of them is an editor for a certain paper) and
helped me transition towards a block schedule that I have in college.
Not to mention, I can now graduate in three years instead of four.
Sure, the adults may like this change, but do the students? Why don’t
you ask them? Why can’t they have the final say?
When I come home, I read the police beat. It makes me sad that it
almost seems to get bigger each week. Is this what we want to be known
for? Drug problems, assaults, domestic violence, robberies?
This is about much more than what I can “brag about” to other people,
this is bigger than that. We have an obligation to fix the problems,
for the kids’ sakes. I would not want my kids brought up in a place
where marijuana and heroin run rampant and people are getting arrested
before they are even legally adults.
What we need is a model for people to look up to. Be it a person, a
community, an organization, something that can get this city out of the
rut it is in. Our future lies in the succeeding generation, and we need
to prepare them for it. We need to support them, encourage them, help
them grow and succeed in life without coddling them. Only then, can we
save our fair city. Do I think it is possible? Yes. But will we? That
question can only be answered by you.
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