Education has super powers
If Bettina Latona — a social work major at the University of Wisconsin-milwaukee — had a superpower, she says it would be to “stop the violence and crime.” And if James Oliver, a criminal justice graduate student at UWM, had a superpower, it would be to “get rid of greed.” He would change the American dream from one that’s based on personal gain to one that benefits the whole of society.
I bring up Bettina (who wants to work with children and couples) and James (who wants to work on policy) because they illustrate an important point. Milwaukee faces complicated, difficult social welfare issues. From where I sit as dean of the university’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare — where we educate the next generation of people dedicated to criminal justice and social work — I know any solutions to these problems will be equally complicated.
But I’m buoyed by the young energy of students who will soon graduate and take their place in the world, where they will begin to tackle these problems. And I’m happy to report that bettering society remains a virtue of the young.
This year, we will graduate 189 men and women in social work and criminal justice. Most will remain in Wisconsin and contribute to the state’s economy and its citizens’ welfare. They will work as school and hospital social workers. Family therapists. Addiction counselors. Rape crisis social workers. Community organizers. Police officers, detectives and chiefs. Intelligence analysts. Bailiffs. Crime analysts. Many will become leaders over time, such as Fond du Lac native Terry Rahl, who graduated from UWM in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. In 2012, Terry was selected to be the FBI’S first attaché to the Netherlands, overseeing the agency’s counterterrorism and criminal-, cyber- and counterintelligence programs in the Netherlands and the European Police Agency (Europol).
At some point in our lives, almost all of us will need a social welfare graduate, someone with expertise in social work or the criminal justice system. If not for ourselves, then we will turn to them on behalf of a loved one.
This May, Hannah Rarick will earn her undergraduate degree in social work from UWM, after which she plans to earn her master’s degree and study policy. She wants to be a crisis/trauma counselor and help people in high conflict and high poverty areas. Her superpower? “I would make it so that no one went to bed without food, water, access to quality health care, access to education and a roof over their head.” Our next round of policy-makers needs people like Hannah.
Rachel Treuer also will graduate, having earned an undergraduate degree in criminal justice. She plans to be a district attorney. Her superpower would eliminate the financial burden of education. “If our country offered free college education like many other countries, I believe we would be living in a very different world,” she states.
What would I choose as my one superpower? Unlike my students, I am not so idealistic, but I do believe education has an unrivaled power to help people reach their full potential and to develop compassionate, thoughtful, well-rounded leaders. And so my superpower would be for legislators to believe this as well. Whittle away at Wisconsin’s education system, dim our students’ passions, and we will all lose. For this reason, I cannot think of a better time to support students, and a worse time to restrict funding to higher education.