By Dave Larson, Federal Way School Board president

I am grateful for the chance to serve our community in the noble and important capacity of a Federal Way School Board member.

I hope for a year devoted to solidifying the positive work of past boards, building on successes, recognizing weaknesses and providing potential solutions for those weaknesses.

Education has become a pressure cooker in recent years as expectations increase exponentially, standards seem to change on a daily basis, good is never good enough, and reform is actually the norm.

The line between inspiration and fear is blurred as our children become mere statistics and test scores.

The light at the end of the tunnel feels more like an oncoming train than a beacon of hope. With many, good news is treated as mere puffery and bad news is accepted as gospel. Fuzzy math, fuzzier assessments and no warm fuzzies at all is probably the best way to sum it up.

So what are we going to do about it?

First, we need to relax. Second, we need to develop an acute sense of perspective. Third, we need to keep our eye on the ball (assuming we can agree on what the ball should look like). Finally, although it does not take a village to “raise” a child, it certainly takes a village to educate one.

Why should we relax? My response: Why not relax? What has undue stress done for anyone?

Being stressed out is much like a dog chasing its own tail; it seems like the right thing to do, but you just get tired, you never seem to catch up with that dang tail, and you spend too much time going nowhere.

Do not confuse relaxation with slumber. Nobody says we can rest, but we do need to relax.

So what’s this acute sense of perspective mumbo jumbo?

Simply put, the success of public education and the continued existence of individual freedom in the context of a viable society are forever joined at the hip. Once we acknowledge this incontrovertible assumption, the purpose of education falls into place. Education is about the opportunity of the individual to achieve maximum potential.

Potential is as individual as a fingerprint. Making students accountable for their individual efforts and achievement of their maximum potential will strengthen the greater good.

Every life has a purpose, and we each serve the greater good by reaching our full potential on our own terms. Public education is the means by which that is accomplished.

Sure, we need minimum standards upon which to measure success in certain areas, but in recent years, minimum standards seem to have been made paramount to all else. Minimum standards are just one measure of many that should be used to judge success.

When we rely too heavily on “minimum” standards, we provide a resting point for those who feel that the minimum is enough. We also set a barrier for those who have surpassed their potential, yet will never meet the standard (i.e. special education students).

In sum, standards are a waypoint, not the destination. Desire is the fuel, vision is the map, opportunity is the road, and maximum potential is the destination. Desire requires love, and I worry that we, as a culture, have fallen out of love with the opportunity public education brings.

Keep our eyes on what ball? See above. However, it’s not that simple because we have made it too complicated.

It seems that many people have an opinion on what is wrong with education and that only their answer will fix everything. This is where the village fits into the equation.

When we are all trying to focus on the same ball, we become a team working toward the same end. Teamwork does not require single-minded blind compliance. Debate is good so long as it is focused on the ends we seek.

It is not whether we debate; it is how we debate that counts. In the process of debate, we need to value “doing right” over simply “being right.

After all, an idea is something that we share; it is not something that we win. Winning the argument at the expense of our children accomplishes nothing. Working together accomplishes everything.

The solutions will not be found in Olympia or in Washington, D.C. The solutions for education do not rest in a new law or a new policy; they are found in the hearts and minds of children willing to take full advantage of opportunity to reach their maximum potential and the desire of us all to work together to give them that opportunity.

Now, in the words of that great scholar and philosopher Larry the Cable Guy: Let’s “get ’er done.”

Dave Larson is president of the Federal Way School Board. He can be reached at dlarson@fwps.org.