FIVE CS FOR 21ST CENTURY? NOT WITHOUT EDUCATION

posted by Michael Chihak

The director of the Arizona Centennial Commission made a cogent observation in my interview with her this week about the upcoming festivities to mark a century of statehood.

Karen Churchard called the centennial an opportunity for Arizonans to decide how we as a state should evolve in the next 100 years.

Among other things, Churchard said, we need to figure out what industries will drive the new century's Five Cs in Arizona.

You remember the Five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate.

Time was when every school kid in the state could recite the Five Cs as readily as the ABCs. Many school kids' dads and moms earned honest livings in one or another of the industries represented by the Five Cs. They didn't need much education for that work, mostly manual labor.

But now the work world has changed, and the labor needs are less manual and more mental. Which means we need more education and better schools.

With ongoing erosion of the state's public education budget by the Legislature, our schools are hard pressed to match the needs of the labor market. The state’s support for K-12 education in the coming school year will be at its lowest per student in more than a decade.

Why, word is that some schools will be able to afford to teach only three of the Five Cs. And who knows where they’ll be on the alphabet?

The point is obvious: Without a strong educational system, we won't be able to attract and grow the industries that will create a new set of Five Cs for the next 100 years.

Most other states are well ahead of us – in years of statehood, educational success and establishing their own economic development plans for the next century.

Knowing that, we should resolve to celebrate Arizona’s upcoming birthday with this gift – an educational system that leads in transformation of the Five Cs That will give us 100 years of prosperity -- a most appropriate centennial gift.