I’d like to start today with an admission: I recently joined the Twitterverse. Yes, after many months of lampooning friends and the site alike, I finally caved and joined what is in reality one of the two most important social networks in the world. My justification? I could start following many important and influential people and learn of things as they happened, rather than the next day.

I found immediate justification through TED talks, a wonderful series of lectures presented by the world’s best, brightest and most cutting-edge minds (the site is worth a look – but be warned, hours can disappear watching them). TED talks had just tweeted about a talk by Bill Gates about a subject perhaps surprising for his field: education. During his 10 minutes, Gates distills the essence of some of the major problems facing the American public education system, including, importantly, the lack of a social concern for education.

The son of two teachers and the brother of another, I profess to be a person of some bias in this matter. But to anyone concerned with the well-being of our state moving forward, an alarming precedent is currently being set in Wisconsin. I refer generally to a pattern of apathy towards education, and specifically to the recent biennial budget cuts to public education funds. $834 million will be cut from Wisconsin schools over the next biennium. Mitigating these cuts through raising property taxes above a percentage roughly equivalent with inflation is forbidden. Obviously, this is not how a state goes about improving an education system; like most Wisconsinites, I am a proponent of “Forward,” and this stinks of backward.

But these cuts did not come about as the singular action of one overzealous man exploiting a perceived mandate; no, they came from a state that has lost touch with the importance of our schools. Any major study will tell you that the more educated a population is, the greater the quality of life they will have. It is understandable that sometimes crucial, complex issues like education policy get lost in the shuffle of everyday life, but we are at a nexus where the future prospects of an entire generation of Wisconsin students hang in the balance. If we allow this unabashed attack on Wisconsin students to become law, that generation will suffer. It really is as simple as that.

So what can be done to fix the problem? As stated, two problems need to be addressed. First, the current problem of the budget looms large before us. It is vital that voices are raised in opposition; lobbying your legislators, writing to hometown papers and even simply informing and becoming informed are all good steps. More insidiously, the larger problem of public apathy towards education will be a tougher trend to break. Fortunately, we are the wave of the future, and we have the power to create change. Thus, I encourage you all to get involved in the broad discussion that goes on at local school board meetings, across kitchen tables and inside ramshackle bars across our nation. Speak up for the education you know to be vital to this generation and the next.

Jordan Weibel ([email protected]) is the Chair of the College Democrats of Madison.