Voters in search of a better future

Each also faces the additional obstacles of a political culture that claims to value the teaching of children but belies that claim every day in nonsensical, stingy policies that are major elements of the load these remarkable young people must shoulder.

Sandra Swiechowicz and Allison Cappella remind political wise guys what today's New Hampshire primary is supposed to be about -- voters seeking a president with some awareness of their lives and some ideas that are relevant to them. At their level, the noisy madness of presidential campaigns becomes personal -- as it should be.

They share that priceless spark of ambition to reach kids and make a difference that society ought to place on the highest pedestal -- and goes out of its way not to.

"I absolutely love my job," said Sandra Swiechowitz, who teaches advanced mathematics to high school students at Pembroke Academy. "It's hard, but the energy in the classroom is what kids feed off, and that's what keeps me going."

"I've always leaned toward public service," said Allison Cappella, who last Thursday began climbing the mountain of part-time work and study for a master's degree. "I realized a few months ago that I want to do something that makes me spring out of bed every morning."

What's on their minds as they vote today is whether the obstacles society puts in their way will become less or more onerous. You would think that would be an easy call, but it isn't.

I encountered each of them as they went candidate shopping last week -- here and farther north in Pembroke (never mind whose events they attended or which candidate they are inclined to vote for today). Suffice it to say they have learned in school and on the job that the virulent dogmas of modern conservatism devalue teaching. In his reelection State of the Union address, President Bush had more to say about steroids and government regulation of marriage licenses than teaching or public schools.

Moreover, there is a new law that leaves one-third of the targeted school children behind and is being mismanaged so flagrantly that states have begun to rebel. Swiechowicz is in her third year teaching advanced math since graduating from Roger Williams College in Rhode Island. Over her head sits $55,000 in federal and bank loans; with a graduated payment scale, her current burden approaches $500 a month.

To make ends meet, this articulate teacher of high school math works as a waitress in a pizza joint after school. She also coaches soccer in the fall and softball in the spring. Her workday ends at 11 p.m. For an 80-hour work week, she makes $32,000.

On top of that, Swiechowicz spends hundreds of dollars out of her own pocket to purchase additional materials for her students -- in her case mostly software and graphic calculators. Existing, ridiculous tax law permits a $200 deduction instead of reimbursement for this typically selfless activity.

She is well aware what she could make with her skills in the business world, but she persists in trying to do what she believes in, which the country allegedly thinks is vital work. Her reality, however, is that "it's hard."

Allison Cappella, with whom I talked in Nashua on Sunday, is now taking the first three of 36 credits she will need for her degree from Lesley University in Cambridge. While she can, she will mix graduate school with part-time employment in banking, but she assumes at some point that she will need to go to school full time.

To make this work, heavy debt is the only route. Cappella knows what's in store for her down to the penny -- $565 in direct costs per credit plus stiff fees. She is borrowing $9,500 per semester to help with living expenses; incredibly half her debt load is already accruing interest. And while she works and studies, she knows there will be no compensation at all for other requirements like student teaching and related preparatory tasks.

Swiechowicz and Cappella are not wild-eyed romantics. They are practical idealists with real dreams that just happen to relate to what politicians keep saying is one of the country's most important objectives with its economic future on the line. They are already sweating buckets.

You have to wonder why society and government have put so many obstacles in their way. They could be nurses or police officers or even in the military and the situation would be no different. Bush's State of the Union address was tilted more toward getting Swiechowicz to tell her student-athletes not to take steroids than to help her teach them trigonometry. Today they go the polls in search of a better future -- and not just for themselves.

Thomas Oliphant's e-mail address is oliphant@globe.com.