Compared to the other countries in NATO, we already are far behind in our universal access to higher education. Many high school graduates in the EU have access to university education regardless of their financial status. Stop quibbling about who qualifies for tuition assistance with university or college education.

As a retired environmental historian and mariner, I believe that the strength of a democracy is directly related to the median educational level of the electorate. The less educated the electorate, the greater the opportunity for ambitious dictators to manipulate them – think of Donald Trump and his supporters.

If we are to maintain our democratic republic, we must make higher education available to all who seek it, and it must be made financially accessible through a graduated income tax that takes more from the wealthy than from the middle classes or the poor.

In the Colonial period, New England towns under Massachusetts’ jurisdiction had to have a free public school in order to send a delegate to the Governor’s Council.

An investment in public education is an investment in political stability and economic growth.

William Burgess Leavenworth
Searsmont