In my former career I got to frequently hear former Gov. William Winter, who is still going strong in his 90s, and Jim Barksdale, chairman of the board and president of Barksdale Management Corp. who created the Barksdale Reading Institute out of his own funds. Both talked about public education and their aspirations to make it better.
I got to see both of these guys again at the Feb. 19 HEADWAE luncheon honoring a student and faculty member from each of the public and private colleges in Mississippi. Barksdale is serving as HEADWAE chairman and Winter was the keynote speaker.
Hearing Winter speak always makes me want to stand up and shout, “AMEN.” I restrained myself, however, because I didn’t want to get myself ousted from the meeting. But it was tempting. Quoting Winter’s words on paper can never adequately capture the passion from the former governor who was the force behind the creation of kindergarten and compulsory attendance in our state.
Winter talked about two basic functions of higher education: Instilling in individual students the understanding of their serving as responsible and compassionate citizens; and building civic relationships that make for strong communities.
“Colleges should create experiences to develop civic responsibility. Higher education is the vehicle for the next generation to learn more about civic responsibility,” he said. “We must learn to live together and be united by shared values. Nowhere in our society can these lessons be learned better than on college campuses.”
Winter also talked about the state of race relations in our state as well as the the polarization of the political parties that is partly based on religion.
“There should always be room for honest dissent and reasonable compromise,” he said.
Honoring our student Caleb Upton of Natchez and faculty member Jane Flowers of Vicksburg made the HEADWAE event worthwhile. Seeing the two other respected education leaders again just capped it off.
