I was just listening to some music. One of the lines from the lyric was ?There but for the grace of you go I.? (The ?you? in the line referred to a lover, not God.) The fact that I knew the referenced saying brought to mind how much I appreciate the background I have. Early in my life, I read ? considerably more than I do these days. And, of course, I went to a liberal arts college where, despite my technical majors of study, I was ?forced? to read and write, often and well.

Just a couple of days ago, my sons were in the car. The freshman at Luther was mentioning to the junior at Luther that he was reading ?Sundiata? and was actually enjoying it. The junior agreed it was a good book. I smiled, and told them how glad I was that they were getting a liberal arts education.

Truthfully, I can?t remember ?Sundiata.? I remember that I read it, as they are reading it, for Paideia ? the freshman English/History course at Luther ? but I can?t recall the plot. Still, it?s in my mind somewhere. I suspect I would recollect something if I asked the guys to remind me. And, you never know, something might trigger me to remember a piece of it.

This is what education ? all education ? used to be about. The wealthy sent their children to schools, or hired teachers, to expose them to all kinds of art, science, music, literature. The point was to help them develop a full life, where ideas could be connected and used, and more ideas could grow from the synthesis.

When the United States began to prosper, we created schools for the public with the idea of passing this sort of knowledge to all children, not just the children of the wealthy. What followed was the best educated, most fully actualized generation in history ? at least, that is my contention.

Public education is no longer able to do this. In my own community, which has highly regarded public schools, the high schools are looking at implementing a schedule which would make it impossible for a student to take choir or any other music year-round, and still get the ?core requirements? satisfied. Why is this even being discussed? Budgets, of course. Somehow, a complete, well rounded education has become a ?luxury? ? its value forgotten, or ignored, by people who think high school should only teach enough to get kids into college or the work force.

Oh, my kids will get the education I can afford. I don?t worry for them. It is the rest of the kids, and the kids who will be growing up with my eventual grandchildren, who will pay for the shortsightedness of our current anti-tax culture.