Public school education.

Letter to the Editor: Good old days. Nancy Sherman, Tulsa. I am thankful to have attended school back when Americans valued providing children with the best education possible. Public schools then educated the generations of mathematicians and scientists who invented and/or developed most of the medicines, safe vehicles, electronic devices - virtually all the products that make our lives what they are today. Public schools provided the education and training that resulted in the rise of the middle class. It's a rare self-made millionaire who didn't attend public schools and a state-funded college or university. Back then, state colleges were funded to the point that students and parents paid approximately 10 percent of the cost. Taxpayers paid for the rest - and did so willingly because they knew they were sponsoring the future. Today, public schools are laying off teachers and closing schools. Today's students graduate from state colleges with such a heavy load of debt they may never be able to pay it off. Back then, most Americans actually considered it their patriotic duty to provide all children with the best education possible. They knew our future depended on it, and our lives today are the better for it. Today, we keep lowering the top tax rates, and lowering funds available for our schools. Is it worth risking our children's future so that people who make millions every year can keep every penny of it? What are we thinking? Letters to the editor are encouraged.