At the March 31 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville the guest speaker was Maureen Downey, Education Reporter/Columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ms. Downey first addressed the nostalgia she often hears expressed about the “good old days” of education. She pointed out the striking ways in which this era differs: there was a high failure rate back then but it didn’t matter so much because there were many jobs that didn’t require an education, not so today when kids without a high school education can’t support themselves; only 10% went to college back then, whereas today a college education is more necessary. The mission of public education has changed: today students have to learn critical thinking and problem solving. She asserted that the problems we have are not fixed easily or cheaply and that the General Assembly fails each year to deal with the real issues, getting sidetracked with some inane topic like the Common Core issue this year. She held up Finland as a model; it requires rigorous teacher training and pays teachers well and now has the top ranked education system in the world. She closed with praise for Gwinnett County’s public school system and credited that success to good leadership over a sustained period of time.