About 45 minutes to an hour north of Columbia is the little town of Great Falls, SC. Around Great Falls are beautiful natural scenes and places rich in history from the Revolutionary War. Great Falls is also the hometown of the late legend Banks McFadden, the Clemson standout who was an All-American in both football and basketball. The current boy's basketball coach of the Great Falls Red Devils, John Smith, is the winningest coach in South Carolina, with over 800 career wins, six state championships and fifteen championship game appearances.
There is a lot of pride that the people of Great Falls take in their high school teams, but that pride does not seem to be enough. Like many small former cotton mill driven towns around South Carolina, Great Falls has fallen upon hard times. The times are so hard that the Chester County School Board is considering closing the legendary high school and busing its students to Lewisville High School.
While on the accountant's books, such a move might make short term sense, it makes no sense in the long run. Great Falls has little to hold onto to keep itself together. Taking away its beloved Red Devils high school teams will only compound the economic problems there and send the town deeper into community despair. Add to that fact that students in the Great Falls area will face up to an hour longer on school buses to attend Lewisville, and it seems very shortsighted of the Chester board to consider such a move.
While it appears true that a good many of the people who live in Great Falls have to work elsewhere, those people at this time still have pride in their community through the proud tradition of their high school. There is something in such small towns that others just do not get. A father or grandfather who played sports takes pride in his son or grandson carrying on the tradition. A local merchant who gives money to the local high school takes pride in knowing it makes a difference in young peoples lives. That pride keeps the community from disintegrating into chaos.
If the Chester County School Board closes the Great Falls schools, they will in essence condemn a legendary South Carolina town and historically important region to a community death sentence. As such, they should find a way to keep the Great Falls schools open, not only for the people of Great Falls, but for all the people who live in little towns and take pride in their small high schools and traditions.
You make a very good point and should include other schools that may be facing the same problem like 96. Yet these are difficult times and school districts are running out of money and are taking drastic measures to find a balance. I would like to see some research done into the Anderson District #5 situation. They are firing teachers yet nearly have $6 million in a reserve fund?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI’ve just started a new blog that will be highlighting the dangerous advances of the secular progressive movement (pro-gay “rights”, pro-abortion, anti-religious freedoms, etc). Unfortunately, most Christians still don’t know what’s going on out there and the mainstream media certainly isn’t covering it.
We’re looking to build a solid group of social conservatives (especially Mike Huckabee supporters) who’ll frequent the site regularly and contribute to some good discussions. The site gets updated daily with breaking news, so you’ll want to check back often, or you can just sign up for our News Feed. I hope you’ll check it out!
If you’ll add us to your blogroll we’ll gladly add you to ours. Just drop us a comment over at our blog so that we’ll know to add you. Our blog is called Religion and Morality.
Thanks!
Your independence makes you irrelevant when you go off on tangents like this.
ReplyDeleteThis is bullshit. I hate Great Falls, because they always kick the shit out of Dixie, but what the Hell?
ReplyDelete