ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Politicizing a Nonpolitical Job

There is nothing wrong with examining how an organization works, be it a private company or the Orange County Board of Education. Nor is there any problem with a Board of Education trustee expressing concern about a federal program on the grounds that it will “dumb down education.”

But when board member Ken Williams derides the same program, which is intended to provide students with guidance on possible careers, on the vague grounds it is “a big-government program,” that’s an unwarranted injection of politics into what should be a nonpolitical position.

This month Williams and two other board members won a 3-2 vote to have the board hold a hearing on the federal career guidance program. The current version of the long-standing program is providing more than $4 million in five years for scores of programs in which people in business explain to students what they do and pupils get a chance to visit business and industry.

The program is a good one. Showing students how businesses do their job is a good part of education. The majority of Americans will work for a private company after they graduate from high school or college. Displaying the options is worthwhile.

Last year, in another example of ideology triumphing over common sense, the Orange Unified School District trustees refused to let five district schools apply for federal grants for the same business program.

The county board has no power to reject the federal funds; about the most it can do is refuse to channel them to school districts. No more hearings on this program are needed. The board majority should proceed with its business, helping Orange County schools and students, not hamstringing them with faulty ideological arguments.