Back on the Soapbox

This morning on NPR I heard something that really upset me. Probably because I'm going to become a teacher, but I don't think I'm the only one who could get upset about this. There is a school district in Oregon that is ending school four weeks early because they've run out of money. They see the only way to not go into the red is to end the school year early, that way they can save they money they would use to buy the rest of the supplies and pay the teachers. The teachers haven't really been able to plan out the school year because an ending date was never set in case it came to this.

In my opinion, this is sad. We're so worried about our nation, and where it's headed, but we have to stop a school's year 4 weeks early because they've run out of money. Isn't there money somewhere that can be used to keep the schools running? Wait, a minute, education is being cut in some places because of problems in the ecomony. Ok, so what is our fearless leader (Bush) going to do about this? Give us all tax cuts way deeper than our country can really afford. Maybe the tax cuts should go to the states (though I know this really isn't an option, but I'm being a bit idealistic). Last time there was a check sent to every American tax payer (well not every, I certianly didn't get one, but I really don't make that much a year.) it was supposed to stimulate the economy. Fix everything that was going wrong. Surely the American people would go out and spend this money that had just been given to them, why would they save it?

Well, they saved it (and who wouldn't with all of the predictions of a recession/depression), and now we're in more trouble than we were before. So why not try it again, but this time send out $400 for each child that a family has, and cut taxes. (cue the sarcasm)This will definately save the economy, cause no one is going to save this money, they saw that last time they saved and it got us no where. (sarcasm off) I really don't understand.

Back to the school... We want the nations children to be educated, to compete in the world job market, to find what they really want to do in life, and to be sure that they can get into a good college where they can be educated in the ways of this field they've decided they enjoy. If we want all of this for them, I don't see how shutting down school early, or what is happening in many schools there, cutting programs that are not essential. Those non-essential programs are where kids learn what they really want to do! And lets say a kid manages to make it through school and figures out what he/she loves because he was lucky enough to still have access to non-essential programs, so called 'good' colleges are going to be so expensive he/she is going to have trouble paying for it.

Maybe there are a few 'non-essential' programs that the government could get rid of. I once saw a news story about the government testing the speed of ketchup. I'm glad they're trying to set a standard for the viscosity of ketchup, I wouldn't want it to be too runny. But maybe they should take some of the money out of budgets like that, and move they somewhere that they keep saying they really care about, the nations youth.

Ok, I think I'm done for now.