School A/C & the essential versus the optional

Robert Pratt

Earlier this week I covered a story about the Hawley ISD trying again to pass a bond issue and the feature item in the media story was about how the 40-year-old gymnasium was without air-conditioning. One listener wrote about my comments: I assume that Pratt’s absurd rant on how kids should be ok with no A/C in school is just poor attempt at being facetious.

No, I was not being facetious. Local citizens of a school district have a right to decide what they want in their schools and if gym air-conditioning is their pressing priority then they’ll get such if a majority agrees at the ballot box. I’ve never been opposed to having A/C in schools across the board – I believe the younger grades benefit strongly from such.

But save us the sob stories on the gym and how hot it is for the girls to play volleyball, the biggest reason the Hawley school chief could find to tell a reporter why the bond issue is important. Think about this: For 40 years the people of Hawley have watched games in the gym; the students of Hawley have played basketball and other sports in the gym, and; students have run laps and exercised in the gym all without air-conditioning. Was this child abuse by the school? Do we have a memorial wall in the gym for all those who died or were seriously ill from it being too hot?

What kind of country have we when true needs are constantly confused with wants – not just by adolescents but also by their parents?

This country gained its world leading status before schools were air-conditioned and frankly, we’ve not been doing so well academically since the A/C was turned on in so many classrooms. Is there a linkage? Likely not. But there is the question of a society so accustomed to creature comforts that it can no longer tell the difference between the essential and the merely optional.