Recently I was invited to take a tour of Oak Harbor High School. I was met by seven or eight smartly attired boys and girls, obviously seniors or juniors.

As we proceeded, the following impressions remain indelible: Long, narrow, tunnel-like hallways, small closet-like windowless classrooms, and clutter everywhere. Obviously there was no place to put things away. The utility room, heart of the electric system, was actually hot, yet the heat was not turned on. I touched an electrical panel cover and it was warm. That scared me. When I think of this scenario, in a panic situation during a fire or earthquake, it is scary.

Even more scary, however, is the onslaught the rest of the world, namely China and India, is making on our educational system. Not only are they catching up to us, but surpassing in some areas, annually graduating hundreds of thousands of engineers. Bill Gates and others in the technology area are screaming for help. Congress limits their importation of personnel from abroad. So, if they are not available from homegrown sources, the only alternative is to take the plants offshore.

I am convinced, if we give our teachers the tools, which today means computers and other technologies, they will teach. If we give our kids the environment they will achieve and if we give them the curriculum, they will innovate.

I urge, nay implore, you to vote for the bonds for OHHS. Sure, your taxes will go up. But isn’t this a small sacrifice to pay for a monument? For truly, this is a monument to our future as a dominant nation in the world. Sure, your kids and maybe even your grandkids are through with schools, but, with great grandkids coming, surely they deserve the opportunity to complete equally worldwide.

Bob Cane

OHHS Class of 1933