our reADERS WRITE

It’s my understanding that a Senate subcommittee has turned down forming a new group to help advise the legislature on education in H3759. This is the very thing we need. Let me explain why.

I have spent a lot of time talking with the different “silos” that touch education in South Carolina and the one thing that stood out to me was that everyone has their piece of the pie and they’re not sharing.

Think for a moment, we have the legislative “silo”, and within that we have the House silo, the Senate silo, and the Governor silo. Within these silos we have the Republican silo and the Democratic silo.

We have teachers silos – 3 of them: The higher education silo, the K-12 silo and several other silos.

From my limited conversations I don’t see any collective effort of these groups to work together. It’s normal for a silo to be concerned with their own concerns but at times the silos need to see a greater need than just their silo and this is one of these times.

We need someone to be a silo broker, building bridges and bringing folks together. We need this group to ask the right questions and be inquisitive so that we can see below the surface. We need role models who can see other points of view.

I am just one voice in the wilderness.

William P. Dieckmann