Teach your children well

And feed them on your dreams …

Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher. Perhaps even a great one.

Rich: And if I was, who would know it?

More: You, your pupils, your friends, God. Not a bad public, that.

—“A Man for All Seasons”

THIS PAST spring, many Americans found out just how important teachers are. As if anybody really needed a reminder. But for those of us who did, yow. Ninth-grade math and seventh-grade science grows more distant as the years pass. There is a reason why so many experts—in education, economics and politics—want schools to reopen. The kids can’t go another year relying on Mom and Dad to explain how to multiply fractions.

This past semester, most teachers taught classes using computers, cameras and educational “distance learning” programs. Some of them, in certain classes and subjects, got an assist from Arkansas PBS.

While the television or iPad screen can’t replace learning with a teacher, it’s a good supplemental resource. Elmo, Big Bird, Arthur and others can help teach some kids in the earlier grades while they’re away from the classroom. Not only that, but during this past semester, Arkansas PBS worked closely with the state Department of Education to make alternative means of instruction for students learning at home.

And Arkansas PBS wants to reach more students. Fortunately, thanks to approval from the CARES Act steering committee, the educational broadcast network is one step closer. Apparently, the broadcast signal covers around 76 percent of the population. That’s a free signal over the air any parent with a set of rabbit ears can access, so long as they’re in range.

PBS can be a great addition for folks who may not have high-speed Internet in rural areas (something Arkansas

struggles with). And Arkansas PBS has asked for $6.4 million to expand its broadcast coverage.

So where would that expansion go? Long-time state government reporter Michael Wickline has more:

“These areas include the northern valley region of Harrison and Mountain Home extending from the Ozark National Forest north to the Missouri state line; the Arkansas River Valley extending west through the Ouachita National Forest to the Oklahoma state line, the plains extending from Forrest City east through to West Memphis and the Tennessee state line; and the southwest corner of Arkansas extending from Mena through Hope to Magnolia and including Texarkana.”

That would help a lot of students who may yet have distance learning or some kind of in-person and online hybrid schedule when they return to school next month.

Arkansas PBS said it needs to establish four new broadcast transmitter sites to fill in four areas of poor reception and increase its coverage up to about 97 percent of the state’s students. Our considered editorial opinion? Let’s make it happen. Stamp the forms. Appropriate the funding.

Who else is so dedicated to providing free supplemental education to Arkansas students without regard to finances or living situation? Arkansas PBS has proven time and time again to be a responsible steward of the tax dollars it’s given. The group should be rewarded with what it needs to keep teaching our kids.

A president of little note once said the best education is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other. Mr. Garfield knew the importance of face-to-face education with a great teacher. But on those occasions when it’s impossible, the best systems adapt. And Arkansas’ public broadcasting team has filled in nicely where it could. Thanks, all.