EDUCATION: Key to Idaho's future

Sholeh Patrick’s “Without Education, Democracy Can’t Survive” was a soothing breath of fresh air as I experience my first election season as an Idaho resident. Our most conservative candidates invoke the Constitution and preach Patriotism, while they insinuate that efforts to improve Idaho’s education record is Marxist “group think.” That attitude, if it prevails, will be the end of democracy in this great nation.

Ms. Patrick gives us food for thought as we consider that the US now ranks 21st on the list of 30 healthy democracies in the world, a fact I found shocking. According to the study she cites, the “higher the average citizen’s educational level...the more democratic the nation.”

Education DOES give our children the tools to work collaboratively as they move forward in the world, a skill so important to the strength of this country and our state. I’d consider Abraham Lincoln to be one of the greatest of Americans, and agree whole-heartedly with the quotation from Lincoln at the end of Ms. Patrick’s article: “ Upon the subject of education...I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.”

As we all head to the polling booth, let’s remember how important education is in our state, and in all of our sister states. Let’s raise our standards and move Idaho forward this year. Our future depends on it.

KRISTEN LAHNER

Coeur d’Alene