By: Mona C.
As the economy continues to
struggle and we travel ever closer to the dreaded fiscal cliff, budget cuts have
swept their way across the country, especially in school funding. Thirty seven
of our fifty states have decreased spending on education over the last five
years, mostly due to the recent recession. Wisconsin, for example, has decreased
spending per student nearly 14% since 2008. These
budget cuts force schools to limit the opportunities they offer, raise the
prices of public education, and decrease the quality of education schools can
offer.
In an
effort to save money and keep educating their students, school get rid of
various programs, including cutting art programs and other electives, making
school years shorter, and firing teachers and guidance counselors. However,
these decisions – while necessary – have high opportunity costs for both
teachers and students. As more and more educators are laid off, unemployment
rises and a large contingency of workers are left without jobs or opportunities
to get new ones. Open positions are filled quickly and highly educated teachers
are left without any possibilities in their chosen field. On top of this, with
fewer teachers come larger class sizes and less one-on-one attention. This leads
to lower grades, lower test scores, and less college readiness skills. When
these students graduate, they won’t be prepared for success, and a generation of
unskilled and uneducated workers may well arise.
Articles:
I feel that no matter how much school officials would need to lay off teachers or cut classes, the opportunity cost is much too high. Like you mentioned, schools looking to cut costs and remove classes or extra curricular activities are also removing the chance of a lifetime from a student. I can expect that in the future, schools could be limited to just the basics due to the lack of money going into public and private education. Mathematics, sciences, and English courses will create the school day. This will create no uneducated workers, but I believe uninspired workers that don't know they're interests. Creating an unhappy America.
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