☀️Sun and Soul
Friday, November 17 - 2023 Week 46
Good morning, great citizens of Marysville and her suburbs. Jump right in to the Sun and the holiday season.
☀️Public School Souls
As good as my recommendation/tease was in last week's reference to the top employer in Marysville, the link to look at the list got a whopping two (2) clicks. That means in order to know which business has the most employees in our city you either are a studious observer of things, or you still don't know. In either case, I'm going to tell you now.
The #1 employer in Marysville is the public school system.
The second highest number of employees was 588 at a company I’d not even heard of before this report, but in 2022 the MSD25 had more than double that number of people on the payroll.
With a reported 10,000+ students, that makes about one employee (obviously not all are teachers) for every seven students.
I know there are a lot of things necessary to run a school, and a lot of jobs that enable work in the classroom to run more smoothly. The MSD also has a lot of campuses, with buildings and gyms and fields and a pool, and all of that requires attention and upkeep.
But the results are not impressive, academically or financially or physically compared to other public school campuses in our county. As referenced in previous Suns, students in Marysville score startlingly low in most subjects. And just this week, the school district sent out a bulletin announcing a budget presentation meeting on November 28 because the new levy, which finally passed on its third attempt, is apparently not enough. While said levy was promised to cover athletic programs and to keep the pool open, those very things are threatened to be cut off again, even with the new levy dollars.
So what are all those employees doing? They are at least cashing their paychecks.
The whole system is a mess because there is no soul. A levy can't buy a soul, not for a school, not for a student. There is no comprehensive transcendence, there is no telos. It's a time-filling way to waste away the week. It's a baby-sitting service with books. The money and the number of employees just let us distract ourselves from the real problem.
Government education has functionally denied that there is meaning to life, to any individual's life. Nothing coheres together, at least not for any purpose. The only true hope of meaning and purpose must come from outside ourselves, and yet the current platform for public schooling depends on the denial of transcendence.
From the beginning it was otherwise. Religion—if we call it that—for Adam and Eve gave them an identity. Human beings were created by God in God's image and likeness. If we want to know who we are, we must know who God is. This is not because we are gods, but because we are God's. Without reference to God, we're mirrors reflecting smoke.
The way out is not to cut athletics. It's not to cut staffing or programs per se. It's both easier than that, and much harder. The only way out is repentance. The basic idea of repentance is a change of mind, and we must change our minds about whether education is really even possible without God as our reference point. And actually, we need to change our minds about how nonchalantly we've ignored, denied, and even blasphemed Him in classrooms and hallways.
It’s absolutely true that people can and should start their own schools. But currently the state still thinks it has authority to tell such schools how to operate, and it also still leaves us noticing that in our city more people are employed in this futile effort than doing anything else.
🚨Sun Retraction
Most readers do NOT click links in the Sun, and in this case, that's good, because in last week’s issue one link went to a short video in which the Editor did not realize there even was audio, and the audio was NOT edifying.
The link has been retracted/removed from the web edition of the Sun, and the Editor has been sacked (though he's the only Editor we have, so we’ve given him second chance).
☀️Local Events
Turkey Trot 5k - Thanksgiving Thursday, November 23, 9:00am. This run/walk is for anyone, and everyone gets an award. Cost is $25. There’s more info and signups here.
Downtown Marysville Merchants Association Events - as seen above. Check out/like their Facebook page for more.
Merrysville for the Holidays - Saturday, December 2. Here’s the event page with more info.
Christmas Concerts (for schools that know what souls are for):
Evangel Classical School: Tuesday, 12/5, 6:30 PM at Word of Life Lutheran Brethren Church
Comeford College Community Choir: Thursday, 12/14, 7:00 PM at Trinity Evangel Church
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If your church or private school would like to have an event posted in the Sun please email us at office@marysvillesun.com
☀️Friday Fun
The things you can learn online.
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