Here in Southwest Florida, a bright spot in education

President Obama has recently stressed the need to improve the quality of public education in America. Among the things he's talked about are imposing tougher curriculum standards, linking teachers' pay to student performance and erasing limits on the number of charter schools, which he calls "laboratories of innovation."

As a former public television executive and college professor, I have more than a passing interest in educational issues. When I was asked by the Southwest Florida Community Foundation to evaluate applications submitted by local high school students who were seeking scholarship grants from the foundation, I said yes. Although I was one of many judges and had only 30 applications to assess, I subsequently found myself facing one of the most difficult assignments I've ever undertaken.

As a college professor, I often bemoaned the quality of writing from my students. For the most part, their grasp of writing style, clarity of expression and depth of ideas was unfailingly disappointing. I found this to be an indictment of the state of public education in this country.

My assignment for the community foundation changed my perspective.

The quality of the submissions I reviewed was a ray of golden sunshine that brightened my former view of public education. It goes without saying that each of the applicants ranked very high in his or her class and all had achieved high scores on their college entrance SAT exams. But more impressive than the students' classroom accomplishments was the quality of the personal essays they were asked to submit.

Of uniformly high quality, these essays were impassioned and displayed elevated writing styles that demonstrated thought processes well beyond the age level of the applicants. These students not only showed an enormous commitment to education but to community

service as well. No matter how troubled the family backgrounds of some of the applicants, their submissions were of such high quality that it was an enormous challenge for me to pick out two finalists. After much deliberation I made my selections.

But even more important than giving a small boost to several deserving youngsters, I came away from this experience feeling that not all is lost in the world of public education. If the applications I reviewed are any indication, I feel comfortable knowing that there is a level of excellence that bodes well for the future.

President Obama is

on the right track in

supporting improvements in public education, but he should know that at least in Southwest Florida we have impressive young adults educated well by our teachers and destined for success.

Southwest Florida Community Foundation guest writer Norman Marcus is a former public television executive and was a professor at Boston University's College of Communication.

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has been supporting the communities of Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry through endowed funds for 33 years and during that time has provided more than $39.5 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. For more information, call 274-5900, or visit our web site at www.floridacommunity.com.