Education is the act of preparing oneself for an intellectually mature life, yet this may not happen for the students in Michigan.
“We can’t just fix it, we have to reinvent Michigan,” stated Rick Synder in his campaign for Governor. Does reinvention mean to cut education where there will be no educating anymore?
The proposal Snyder made could cut about $960 million from the K-12 state’s budget from the $18 billion spent to operate the school districts. How does the government think public school districts or college students will survive with more budget cuts? Public schools have already seen too many deficits in the past years. These cuts are hindering the valuable knowledge that children K-12 need.
In the Cadillac News, Superintendent Liabenow of the Cadillac school district stated, “If we don’t have a solid foundation in public education, we will lose our position in the world economy, face increased national security concerns, and our quality of life and standard of living will change for the worse.”
Our futures, including mine, will not have the resources needed to be successful in our economy. If there is no money to pay for the educator there will be no education for the students.
I don’t believe education needs to be cut so much. When I was in a small town high school we had enough to get by. We didn’t have a swimming pool, tennis club, or an auditorium, but those aren’t necessities. What is a necessity is having an art class, band class, and other extracurricular activities like sports.
These are the type of classes that are necessary along with the basics: English, math, science, and social studies. In school we learn who we are and where we are going. This continues in college, but the base is in our early education.
We need the materials to explore different mediums. I would not be who I am today if I had never gotten involved in band or played some sports. We learn how to be socially adequate and competitive through these sources.
These proposal budgets need to go back or in “rehab.” How can the government control what our future entails? How do they think they have the right to cut our education?
School districts are looking at over a million dollars they need to cut. Where they will find this money? These schools being able to make reasonable cuts is highly unlikely. Reality would be to cut all band, athletics, all non-mandatory busing, and all counseling services, but that is not reasonable.
With more cuts in education, the children will lose opportunities we once had. My generation is the future of tomorrow, and without the opportunities of yesterday we will not be able to have an intellectual mature life. We will be inadequate to the world. n