THE STORY goes that a lady on a trip to Europe looked out of her rental car one day, took a deep breath and commented: “Ho-hum. Another awe-inspiring sight.”
The lady may not have been downplaying the landscape. Quite the opposite. Maybe she was trying to sum up all the wonders that she’d seen on her Grand Tour.
The awe-inspiring can be overwhelming, but sometimes it just tempts us to take some things for granted. Ho-hum. Another godsend. Let’s not let that happen every time the Walton Family Foundation makes a generous, even transformative, gift to the people and future of Arkansas.
This time the Waltons have given more than $4 million to Teach For America, the group that recruits andtrains college graduates all over America to teach for two years in poor parts of the country.
Some schools in the Delta rely on Teach For America for a good percentage of their staffs. In Arkansas alone, nearly 30 school districts make good use of teachers who get there via Teach For America.
“Each year, we have to turn away qualified, dynamic applicants due to the lack of funding,” says Ron Nurnberg of Teach For America. With this new money, there’ll be fewer outstanding applicants who have to be turned away. And more Arkansas students who benefit.
Once again, the Walton Family Foundation has done something special for its state. There’ll be no golf claps here. Consider this a loud Whoo Pig Sooey!
Editorial, Pages 16 on 06/29/2013