LTE: Universal access to education is paramount

May 30, 2025

Dear Editor:

In the current debate over the goals needed for an effective public education system, the ingenuity of the American in emphasizing universal access to education should not be forgotten. In this never-before-seen phenomena was actualized the United States ascent to the global power it is today both economically and militarily.

An example that might shed light on current criticisms might be my own father who was of Italian descent. The son of industrious immigrants, he couldn’t speak a word of English upon entering the Hartford Public Schools in 1937. The same was true of many of the Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, or other children from any number of the immigrant neighborhoods that were at the heart of family and culture in industrial U.S. cities at the time. It was this access to education that led people like my dad who became an alumnus of the public University of Connecticut, to make considerable contributions to society.

From being a non-English speaking child of immigrants, he spent a prolific career as an engineer ironically designing many public schools that facilitated the education of thousands of children in our State. These decades of investment in the education by our Country has led generations to prosperity and to contributing to the public good not only here but abroad.

Unfortunately, the debate over education now seems to be regressing into what were the accepted norms of places like Europe. Places that were educating the people were seen as a threat to stability. A belief thoroughly disproven by the United States’ great advancement through education for all.

While a review of what has gone well and what can be improved upon is very American and very necessary, we do not want to lose track of how our universal access to education has been the bedrock of advancement in science, technology, literature, philosophy, mathematics, healthcare, and so much more for the benefit of the common good throughout the world.

Ed Pantano

Guilford, CT