We the People

In my education class today, we had a discussion on the government's role in our nation's education. We particularly focused on the finances, or lack there of, that both the federal and state government's give to school systems.

Coming from a poorly financed school, I understand how frustrating it can be when there are not enough textbooks to go around. Just last year, my school ran out of paper. Yes you heard me right...PAPER. Unfortunately, the school did not have enough money in its budget to factor in the cost of extra paper so we were forced to make due. One consequence was that instead of the teachers printing out the notes, the students were required to copy all notes by hand. Big deal so we had write a little more, right? I'm not complaining that I had to use the precious energy to put pen to paper. Because the teacher had to wait for the students to finish copying down the notes, there was less class time to actually teach the lesson. Topics were barely explained or completely omitted. The little instruction left the students to fend for themselves.

During the lecture, one of my fellow classmates gave a presentation on how the government of North Carolina finances education. About 57% of the total amount of expenditures the state government gives out is used specific for education. This total dropped one percent last year, resulting in the mass layoffs of teachers and huge school budgets cuts. Only one percent caused all that chaos! This just shows that the government and school systems need to work better in spending the financing they receive wisely.