I really wanted to title this post "why it's not such a bad idea to let Texas secede from the union" but I resisted, barely.
Just this month the Texas Board of Education managed to approve a history curriculum that will put a conservative slant on History Books that may find a way into classrooms across the country.
Why is that, you might ask? Because Texas buys an assload of books, in an industry in which volume ordering can dictate any number of things. That is why History Books your child brings home might have a Conservative Christian slant to them someday soon. Comfortable with that fact?
Me, not so much. It's pretty damn scary. The reality of it, not the Daily Show clip below.
This is why parents everywhere should begin attending their local board of education meetings and getting more involved in what happens in your local school district. Now more than ever. Not just because the Texas nit-wits can pull this shit off and few people know about it, let alone realize the insanity behind it. Read the original NY Times article, please, to know of which I speak.
If Lindsey Lohan farts in public, more people interact about that specific occurence than they do if there is a school district budget vote impacting their child's daily education. Why is this?
New Jersey is experiencing unprecedented school budget cuts, as are other districts around the country. I believe there are districts in California and Oregon that are on four school days a week because there isn't enough money to keep them open five days. I read an article recently that Kansas City might have to consolidate and close half their schools or face bankruptcy. Some of those steps may be beneficial in the end, but that's a pretty severe scenario.
Within weeks of the Governor's Budget address, some NJ school districts are reporting staffing cuts up to 100 as a beginning step. AS A BEGINNING STEP. Some of these positions are not necessary, I will agree. When prosperity reigns, there is work to made, positions created. When economies contract, many of those positions are no longer critical. I do know the level of potential staffing cuts are going to go below the "what can we do without" stage in the next year. Unprecedented budgetary constraints. Enlarged classroom sizes. Program, club, athletic reductions. All of this affects our children. And our future, as the kids coming through the school system today are going to be the ones leading our towns, our companies and our government.
Isn't that worth an hour, two, maybe three hours of your time once or twice a month? Is the latest episode of American Idol or Whichever spoiled Housewives more important than knowing what's happening in your district schools?
I don't care whether you have children in the district schools or not, it's our responsibility to make certain our kids are educated, that they receive the best education we, as a people, can provide.
The only way to see that happen is to be involved, to ask the questions, to voice your thoughts. Those voices, and thoughts and ideas are heard. I know. I hear them.
All to often the only time parents show up is to complain about something that affects their child, and I'm not referring to those parents that always take an interest and spend the time each month, I'm also not referring to the parent's with legitimate issues, I'm referring to the parent's whose only concern is their child's honor roll and how a decision affects their daily schedule. How about how a decision affects the community, the student body in total, your neighbor's employed in the school district? Those are the parents I'm referring to.
In shuttling the kids to sports and other community events I overhear many conversations about our local school budget, much of it misinformed. I've realized these fallacies spread so easily because people would rather receive news secondhand than make the effort to find the answer themselves. That bothers me. It is twice as hard to correct a mis-statement than it is for that inaccuracy to become belief. And this is how people make decisions as they pertain to schools, local government and any number of interesting important choices. If more people took an interest in finding out for themselves, then be spoonfed scurrilous noise, than we as a people would be so much more. I get that it is hard to find time in our overloaded, frantic schedules. My time is just as tightly compacted and my family sometimes regrets my involvement, but I know that the long term rewards will be worth it.
And now that I've gotten that off my chest, please check out this The Daily Show clip as well as the NY Times link. It's interesting, I promise.
And go attend a School Board of Education meeting. You'll hate me in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment