QUOTE(Jon Awbrey @ Tue 31st May 2011, 9:18am)
If The People Rule, The People Must Be Wise
Education is not a privilege. Education is a duty and a right. At least, that's the way it must be in a democracy, if that democracy is to succeed, if that democracy is to remain a democracy. Those are the lessons that my teachers taught me in school so long ago. I cannot say why others have failed to learn those lessons, or maybe they just forgot them, but I know that I learned them and I know that I will not forgot them.
Thinking that education is a privilege for the privileged — I know where that sad idea came from — it came from the Old World that we fought to form this New Republic. I do not know what spells have raised that old ghost from the grave of history, but I think it's time to call it “Riddikulus!â€
Indeed.
I understand the need to cut budgets during a hard recession, but the politicians always cut what most would consider the heart of education. I remember reading in high school (before the current dark times) that the US government could save millions by cutting back on paper clips and staples. You would think that the little things like office supplies would go first. Yet, it's always "let's cut the Pre-K tesachers, the PE teachers, the art teachers, the teacher assistants, the school librarians, the administrators, etc." In a business, an honest businessman would cut everything he could before laying off people.
It gets even downright nasty when political ideology gets involved. "Let's cut science and math so those liberals who think we are descended from monkeys do not denigrate God and our right-wing sensibilities." "Let's cut sex education and cut it down to tell horny teenagers that abstinence-only is the only way!" "Let's cut out school nurses because they give kids medical information about sex!"*
Public schools in the US are primarily paid for with property taxes and that's not good for areas with low property values. The housing crisis has cut property tax revenue. The area where I live is always asking for bond issues to help fund the schools, but it is never enough. They are always asking for more and yet more cannot be given. I know some "States Rights" people will hang me for this, but I think US public education needs to be uniform (with some local and state leeway) on the federal level and not the state level. Federal, state, county/parish, and local taxes could boost up the schools. However, I think we need to reconsider how we fund schools so there is always some level of financial stability even during recessions. I wish I had the answer as to how. And is the money we give to the schools being used wisely? That's something that bugs me to no end on all government institutions (and businesses. Yes, I'm talking to you, US banks!).
*(Yes, VoC, I'm sure liberals want to cut things on ideological lines too, though I can't think of any at the moment. The examples I listed above have been thrown around by the local right-wingers in my area.)