Why Go Public?

2009 Cleveland Heights High School graduates Kim Wilkins and Tammy Tran produced this video, “Where’s Education?” as an entry in C-SPAN’s 2009 StudentCam video competition. Students were asked to create a 5-8 minute video documentary exploring an issue of national significance that they believe is in need of urgent attention from the new president of the United States. The other 74 videos honored (including one by Heights High 2009 graduate Luke Gould, the only other Ohio student recognized) can be viewed here. Nearly 1,000 videos from across the country were submitted.
“Where’s Education?” showcases the talent of two Heights High students and raises questions about the importance of public education.

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Public education is fundamental to a democratic, civil, prosperous society. Public engagement, community support, and adequate resources are essential to the success of public education. A great strength of public schools is that they are everybody’s business. But too often, when something is everybody’s business, it becomes nobody’s business. This makes our schools vulnerable.

Reaching Heights facilitates straight-forward, common-sense ways for people to contribute to the success of our public schools. By making it easier for the public to own the schools, we encourage pride in our youth and confidence in their education, and strengthen the social contract, our community, and the constituency that is essential to the future of public education.

In our “Why Go Public?” section, we’re going to have a conversation about the value of public education and why it’s important to future of our Republic to support it. In the coming months, we’ll post the thoughts of members of our Board of Trustees and others in our community on why they choose public education. We’d like to hear from you as well.