Students future should not be smaller than ours
What message do we send when free public education isn’t free? When I visited Fairhaven High School to speak with one of their clubs, I was struck by how these students experience high school — one that many of us once enjoyed with the confidence that we were being prepared for adulthood. These students weren’t talking about wasteful spending or school rankings. They spoke about feeling unheard. No one was asking them what they needed to thrive. Instead, they see adults nickel-and-diming their education, while they simply ask for the opportunity to learn, to be challenged, and to be valued as the future of our town.
Nearly 47% of students in the Fairhaven School District qualify as low income, yet they are expected to pay for class dues, field trips, extra activities: prom is becoming unattainable. Students who want to take AP classes must pay $100 per course. We are placing barriers in their path before they’ve even had a chance to apply for college.
Have you invested in your child’s sports from a young age in hopes of a scholarship? Well, I hope you can also afford for them to play in high school. The very opportunities that help students gain scholarships and build their futures are put behind a paywall, shutting out those who need them most. Hardship funds exist, but no student should have to prove their financial struggle just to participate.
This is about the future we are building for our children. We are not setting them up to confidently step into adulthood, contribute to their communities, or believe that hard work leads to success. We have stripped away the support systems that once ensured every student had a fair shot. Past officials argued that life skills like cooking and financial literacy weren’t the responsibility of public schools because parents could teach those at home. But today, with many parents working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, those lessons are being lost. And what about the parents who were never taught these skills themselves? How can they pass down knowledge they never received?
We are perpetuating a cycle of generational disadvantage — one that can only be broken if we, as a community, step up and invest in our schools. We cannot expect our young people to thrive when they are given fewer resources than the generations before them. Why are we allowing their future to be smaller than ours?
Underfunding our schools isn’t just about budgets — it’s about morale. When students see their education treated as an expense to be cut rather than an investment in the future, they internalize that message. They feel ignored, undervalued, and discouraged. And they leave. If we want our young people to stay, to build their lives here, we must first show them that their education and dreams matter.
A well-funded school system isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. It’s time to listen to our students, and recognize that supporting them today means strengthening our community for generations to come.
Jess Fidalgo, Fairhaven
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Click here to download the 4/17/25 issue: 04-17-25 FlashlightEggHunt
Click here to download Patrick Carr’s COI document: PatricCarrCOI_4-14-25
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