#My500Words Challenge: Day 17

The Challenge

Pick a fight

The 500 Words

Public education in Utah should be amazing. I mean, we probably have the most children, and we should be investing good resources into them so that they have the ability to solve problems as they grow up.

That is not the reality.

I grew up in Rose Park, a very diverse area of Salt Lake City. While I appreciate the diversity, I don’t appreciate how my old schools face budget cuts or lack of funding for the programs that I consider necessary. For example, home economics is a life skill staple. I recently learned that my former home econ teacher, who is outstanding by the way, that her budget was cut in half.

Upon hearing about the budget, I was crazed, mostly because her curriculum is important, and the fact that basic life skills are being disregarded. Seventh and eighth grade are the years where you learn how to study; it prepares you for high school, which in turn prepares you for college.

I don’t understand why the budgets are so hard to balance. I mean students are entitled to have a well-rounded education where they have the opportunity to learn all things. No one subject or area of study is more important than another. The purpose of school is to educate, and students should feel that by the time they finish their schooling at age 18, they will be better equipped to think for themselves and take care of themselves, academically and practically.

Areas within the school district that are in more diverse areas tend to have less funding than those on the east side. I think a large factor in that is the lack of education provided by the parents. Low-income areas tend to be inhabited by adults with limited educational backgrounds. They do not know what the standard for quality education is, therefore they do not question the budgetary choices made by the administration.

This vicious cycle needs to end. Everybody is required to attend school as children, therefore they should receive the highest quality of learning that they are able to.  Everyone should be able to understand the basics of mathematics, science, technology skills, reading, writing, home economics, foreign language, basic art skills relating to spatial awareness and understanding the concepts and theories of art, music, and performance art/public speaking.

Personally, I feel that students at my former middle school are being deprived of a proper education. They are going to high school without the necessary tools to succeed. The system is setting them up to fall short of the standard expectation for knowledge. It is so bad that these students are unable to think for themselves, falling into the same kind of pattern that will keep them in low-income areas.

We need to break the cycle.

Schools like this need to have proper resources to teach their students, otherwise they are just paying people to pass the time while the students learn nothing to better themselves. Education provides choices; do not take away their choices.