Education comes in many different forms and lessons

Lou Marzeles
Editor and Publisher

     It’s been a time of focus on education, in several different ways, around the area lately.
Of course, there’s graduation, which occurs in schools in the county this time of year. It’s a time of excitement and expectation for students and their families.
     There’s also the education local police provide to criminals and the communities they prey upon.      The bottom-line lesson for drug dealers is: get out of town. And they are, according to reports. The town is too hot, drug dealers and users are hearing. Stay out of Goldendale. Drug dealers visiting town are a kind of tourism we can do without. And it’s helpful for the community to be educated about such a thing happening; it helps lift the sense that positive things are in motion.
     Education also occurs in surprising ways at the Chamber of Commerce’s now-weekly forum lunches. County commissioner Rex Johnston spoke at the last one and shared much about the county and its financial state that was of great interest, which of course is why we have a story on the event in this week’s paper. The Chamber does a good job of bringing relevant and interesting speakers.
     Then there’s the education that occurs in its own unique way in election years. The public gets a thorough education in the wayward and utterly counterproductive thinking of candidates from the candidates opposing them—and thus we learn that, amazingly, all candidates are wayward and counterproductive, since candidates so often make the same criticisms of each other. How an electorate can ever become truly and objectively informed is an education process still awaiting fulfillment, it would seem. The critical lessons too often appear to be about marketing, perception, and preference.
     Education happens every day. Typically we call it life. If we’re fortunate, we get to learn a great deal before we have to cram for our finals.