Schools vs. Prisons

Each year Central Connecticut State University conducts a study of America's largest cities, population 250,000 or greater, to gauge gains and declines in literacy rates from year to year. This study focuses on six factors contributing to the literacy levels of our major cities. Such as, quality of libraries, newspaper circulation, internet access, education level, number of bookstores, and periodical publishing resources.

One factor they've left out in my estimation, is the number of prisons in any given area. As we all know prisons devour a great proportion of our nations wealth, we in America incarcerate our citizens at a percentage greater than any other first world country. Here in America unlike the rest of the first world we hand out the death penalty like candy at Halloween, yet we have such a ponderous legal system that carrying out these sentences anywhere but Texas, happens about as frequently as leap year. Perhaps less often. So what we're left to deal with are large numbers of miscreants sucking resources away at the rate of over $200,000 per year per death row inmate.

So what is the correlation between the number of prisons in any given geographical area, and the quality of the educational experience there? If we use the San Joaquin Valley as a model, the empirical evidence shows, quite starkly, that the investments made in prisons have had a sharply corrosive effect on the educational levels attained in three of the largest cities in the valley. On the list of "Least Literate" cities in the U.S. we find Fresno, Stockton, and Bakersfield. Numbers 71, 72, and 75 respectively. Clustered around these towns, we find state and federal prisons large and small in such numbers that the prison guard lobby is now the largest in Sacramento. As soon as Jerry took the oath he gave them all a raise and benefit package increases as they funded much of his campaign. Can we all say "quid pro quo?"

At the same time Jerry announced that he had to cut the amount spent on educating our children at every level of public education. From pre-K through university, our kids are now receiving an education that if it were compared to that which our ancestors received three generations ago, would be found to be sorely lacking. So many children passed through the schools without regard to whether or not the child can read, let alone fill out an employment application; have left us with a society populated with people so ill-prepared to live in the modern world, they turn to the thing that will sustain them when a job can not. CRIME. Is it any wonder that Fresno leads the nation in car thefts, and comes in at number 71 for least literate population? I think NOT.

So next time you're encouraged to vote for something like the "3 Strikes Law", think beyond the abstract idea that the streets will be safer for your kids, and look at the costs to society when the prison population explodes, as it has here in California. Think about what these people might have attained had they been given the educational opportunities they require to be competitive in the digital age. Now they do get an education in prison; some prisoners might have only been at the high school equivalent or AA level of criminal activity when they entered prison, some will certainly attain a Masters degree in crime, and a few will be Phi Beta Kappa when released on an unsuspecting world ready to take their criminal endeavors to a whole new level.

Reality is America, investments in our children's educations pay far greater dividends than does the stockpiling of people in prison. Educational infrastructure, schools, classrooms, athletic fields, well trained teachers; these are our investment priorities. Without this prioritization America continues it's descent into second world education standards, producing citizens less and less able to compete on a global scale. Reality is America if we want to maintain our place in the global scheme, education reform is the key.