Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Awards Handed Out At Upchurch Banquet

Linda Pondexter had no apologies for herself at the Ila Upchurch Banquet Saturday night, and offered none.

Pondexter, president of the Arkansas Education Association, did not apologize for supporting Bill Bristow for Governor of Arkansas, nor did she apologize for saying education is the most important thing a child can get.

"I am an unapologetic advocate for public education," she said. "There are the voucher vipers who say if we give parents enough money and let them choose where to send their children to school it will cure of all the ills of public education."

But, she added, such a method would not prevent private schools from raising their tuition and keeping other children out, with the education system remaining unbalanced.

"There is no room for big I and little u in education. Everyone needs education," she said. "We need to invest more in schools and make them all schools of choice."

Every child, Pondexter told the packed house at Prescott Middle School, deserves a quality education and schools should be designed so children can learn.

People are more than willing to talk about the problems with public schools, and how American students rank down on the list when competing against other nations, she said. What is not discussed, however, is how close the statistics are on the global tests and how to improve the schools in the U.S.

Pondexter was also vocal in supporting all schools adopting school uniforms. Too much emphasis is being placed on what is worn to school and not what is being learned in school.

She said there is no reason to put $30 caps on heads that don't think and $150 shoes on feet going nowhere. "Children need to concentrate on learning for the sake of learning," Pondexter said, adding they also need to be taught right from wrong.

As an educator in Little Rock, several of her students are members of street gangs. She has questioned them as to why they belong to these organizations. Their response is the gangs carry out the expectations and mete out punishment for jobs not done. Families, Pondexter said, need to take the place of gangs.

"Most children want to do a good job," she said. "The ones who do get very little recognition."

Pondexter also advocated a return to the old ways, where parents and neighbors were involved in community life and how children are raised. "We must become involved in the lives of our children."

Speaking on politics, Pondexter told the gathering anyone who didn't bother voting had no right to complain with the way things are.

Voting, she said, is something people died for and we, as a people, need to exercise our rights to vote.

She also urged the audience to vote for Bristow, saying she was informed if she gave him public support she would not be asked about any education policies by Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "I wasn't being asked anyway," she said, "so it didn't matter."

The tragedy in life, according to Pondexter, is not failing, but in failing to have goals, ideals and dreams. "Low aim is a sin, not failure," she said.

Today's children, she said, are tomorrow's taxpayers. They will determine our place in the global future. "We must dare to work together. It will be a struggle, but if there is no struggle, there is no progress.

"Struggles may be physical or moral, but there must be struggles. We need to stand, speak and be as one as we work for success."

Also at the banquet, the Outstanding High School Senior of the Year was named, with the honor being bestowed upon Ada Nixon.

Josephine Henderson was tabbed as Citizen of the Year, while Educator of the Year went to Willie Wilson. Evelyn Smith earned the Ila Upchurch Scholarship for 1998.