Education
Fifty years since the lawsuit of Brown vs.
the Board of Education and what is the result? In Long Island,
NY, segregation is at its highest level. Most minority residents
would agree that if they traveled outside the Long Island
region and told someone they were from Long Island, that person
would probably be able to guess where they live. That guess
would probably be Hempstead, Uniondale, Freeport, Roosevelt,
Wyandach, New Cassel or Brentwood. Naturally all these school
districts have population levels they can not handle and a
lack of the resources as well. How can separate be equal when
poor school districts are struggling to provide a quality
education for its students and surrounding affluent districts
within the region continue to astonish college recruiters.
Now I know for a fact that each of the mentioned above communities
definitely have several shining stars, but the mass population
is not getting the education they deserve. While our kids
continue to educationally die in our schools, lawmakers are
squabbling over school aid formulas. This is wrong!
Today we have more public schools struggling
to keep up with cuts in State aid than ever before. We have
more school districts proposing monumental tax increases to
keep pace with State cuts. To that end, we have more children
dropping out of high school. How can this be? In Nassau County,
NY more homeowners would agree that they pay at least $3,000
to $9,000 per year in school property taxes, which does not
include county and town/village taxes. However there are school
districts in my area that pay this amount, but are the worse
performing schools in the State. There is not a resident in
Nassau County who believes that when they decided to move
to the suburbs that they would have high taxes and inadequate
schools. The residents of these communities are being shortchanged.
This is not an abnormality. This is happening throughout the
State.
Let’s move for Reform
Public education needs to be addressed and
there are a host of ideas to evaluate teachers and other school
officials. However I believe funding formulas is the major
issue. How do you determine whether or not your school district
is receiving its fair share! In New York, some officials have
become deceptive in their political rhetoric. Most will indicate
that they have not cut school aid. However I would ask have
you increased it. The bottom line is the student population
is growing and State aid is not growing at the same rate.
This puts enormous pressure on the local school districts
to makeup the difference. Elected officials that support this
concept are “passing the buck.”
The way to proceed is…..
1) Invest in High Schools
Public education has been thrown to the
waste side. We need to invest in our children if we expect
to have an educational output that is comparable to other
countries such as Japan and Germany. A good public education
can help a young person overcome tremendous odds and reach
his or her potential. It is a shame that America’s school
system is based on a two-tier structure that benefits more
affluent districts.
2) Support our Teachers
You show me a well educated child, I’ll
guarantee the teacher is in a well supported environment.
Teachers need support and not just financially through pay.
They need resources such as new innovative learning aids,
computers, and of course more teachers to lessen their student
enrollment per classroom.
3) Re-evaluate Curriculum every year
The curriculum should be re-evaluated to
reflect today’s trends. Being that the world is moving
towards information technology there should be a heavier concentration
of this in our children’s curriculum.
4) College should not be a dream, but a
reality
We should be providing more aid to our public
institutions. Why should any young adult not go to college
because of money? We should either provide more financial
aid for a 2 or 4 year degree or we should look at providing
enough aid to make the first year of college free. That will
give young people the incentive to work because there is a
light at the end of the tunnel.
5) After school programs
Between the hours of 2pm and 7pm our
children are most vulnerable to gangs and other irresponsible
activity. The key to reverse this action is to invest in after
school programs. Most parents are working longer these days.
Most of them have two jobs and don’t get home till 9
or 10 pm at night. After school programs would assist families
and help them get over the hump.
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