Dear Editor:
I have been associated with Southwest Open School for several years. Lifeway Baptist Church opened the doors of their facility to the school. The buildings were/are used as if the district owned them. Once each week, the district furnishes and prepares a free meal for the students. The building is used at no cost to the school nor the students. The students have been instructed not to smoke on the premises. Some have enough money to purchase tobacco products and many also have money enough to own/drive vehicles. It appears to me that much time is spent out of the classrooms, as I have many times observed students across the street from the classrooms smoking and conversing.
Buildings are not the determining factor in the education students receive. It takes study, determination and application to gain an education. I am not saying that a school district should not try to have adequate facilities for the students. I do believe that it matters very little whether the construction of educational facilities will cause the students to gain an adequate education. Achieving such is more the attitude and application of the students abilities, over which no construction, no matter how fancy, will have a true, lasting effect. Will new buildings cause the students to take pride in making sure that those who follow them have adequate facilities? At present, it appears to me that the campus could be shown more respect and appreciation.
Architecture and construction of new facilities will not guarantee a lasting and usable education.
K.F. Richardson
Cortez
