Where Has Education Gone?

"Education is no substitute for pure raw talent.  However,
it is a good foundation on which talent may build."  ~ David Allio

We all hear about education dollars being cut from states's budgets, schools laying off good educators because they can't afford them, programs being cut in our schools, etcetera...it's all disheartening.  So when one goes to a choir concert at an elementary school, there is hope that some school districts understand the need for the arts as well as education.

Fast forward to the end of an auditorium filled with joyful noise.  The choir director became rather vocal and told all that were gathered that, though she is happy to be kept on after this school year, her program is being cut from three one-hour sessions a week to one half-hour session a week.  Using my skills in Mathematics, rounding up, her program is being cut down by 83%.  Eighty-three percent!

Say you heard that your favorite TV program was just told that their budget was cut and instead of having forty-three minutes of programing to film, they had to fit all of it into seven minutes, 18 seconds.  Could they do that?  Would you still like the show?  Would you be satisfied with the content?

Try this?  You're used to getting a full business week to complete a presentation or a comprehensive report.  You now have six hours and 48 minutes.  Talk about cramming!  Good luck with that.

One more...You're used to making $32,000 a year, budget cuts means you have to take an 83% cut in pay.  Could you live off of $5440 a year?  No?  Scarily enough, some are trying.

Not so easy is it?  Hard to imagine, yet this is what is happening to children's education.

This is only the latest thing to really upset me over what is happening to our educational system.  Three short weeks ago, I was sitting with my niece and she was so proud as she showed me all her hard work.  She was excited for me to see just how well she's been doing in school.  I was looking over one of her rough drafts and noticed there were no marks on the paper except for a "100/100".  There were no notes for improvement in the margins, no kudos.  When I asked her why this was so, she told me that students were getting 100% for turning in their rough drafts.  Just for turning it in!

I, being the way that I am, looked over her draft and saw misspellings, flow issues, punctuation issues, and grammar errors.  I couldn't believe that nothing had been written on this paper by the teacher!  I wasn't at all pleased and decided to work with her on it.  We spent well over an hour discussing the paper and correcting some of the issues.  I made sure that she understood each step that we had gone over.  She ended up getting a good grade, but it made me angry that the teacher gave no direction.

"A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order,
which means knowing what things are more important than other things;
it means putting first things first.
~Wendell Berry

What has happened to our educational structure?

When I was little--in elementary/junior high school--I had art, choir, band and physical education. Art class was once a week with band and choir taking up the other four days of the school week.  Physical education was mandatory five days a week.  I was still taught for a full hour on each of the following subjects: Social Studies/History, Science, Language Arts/English, and Mathematics.

How in the world did this all break down to Physical Education twice a week and Arts programs that are virtually non-existent?  How did educators become so lax in being certain that their students understood the objective?  When did teaching become about only the positives in our nation's history?

When we were younger and fell down, didn't we learn how to get back up without being coddled?  When you got into trouble at school, you went to detention and were not allowed to take your music with you.  You did your school work or the teacher in charge of detention would make sure you had work to do.

I probably should have known this beforehand, but I decided to check and see just how many of our education dollars have been taken away from our kids (by "our kids," I mean family, friends, acquaintances and those I have yet to meet).  I did some research and what I found, shocked the hell heck out of me.

In my state alone, the education budget for fiscal year 2012 was cut by $488,989,600. If you think that's bad, since fiscal year 2009 the budget has been cut by $2,033,762,269.  This sum includes salaries and pensions, maintenance on sites and vehicles, building new schools, supplies, transportation, sports, arts programs, extra-curricular activities, and so much more.  All previously mentioned are necessary to ensure that the kids are being taken care of mind, body and culture.

So where has the money gone?

That's a good and fair question, don't you think?

I have seen that they've erected monuments at the capital, increased politician pay, spent more money to police the border between the United States and Mexico, spent money to entertain out-of-town politicians in a goodwill gesture, and paid--and continue to pay--consultants and accountants to figure out how to better plan our state's future by researching our previous laws and budgets.

How are we faring?

Obviously, not any better.

"A man's mind may be likened to a garden,
which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild;

but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will bring forth.

If no useful seeds are put into it,

then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein,

and will continue to produce their kind."

~James Allen