Students expect to suffer because of budget crisis
[Terence Chea; Jun. 09, 2010] Students who graduated from high school this spring may have collected their diplomas just in time, leaving institutions that are being badly weakened by the nation’s economic downturn. Across the country, mass layoffs of teachers, counselors and other staff members are leading to larger classes and reductions in everything that is not a core subject, including music, art, clubs, sports and other after-school activities. Educators and others worry the cuts could lead to higher dropout rates and lower college attendance as students receive less guidance and become less engaged in school. They fear a generation of young people could be left behind.
The American Association of School Administrators estimates that 275,000 education jobs will be cut in the coming school year, based on an April survey. Other AASA surveys found that 52 percent of administrators plan to cut extracurricular activities, and 51 percent are reducing elective courses not required for graduation. Tupper Lake Central Schools in New York, will lose 25 percent of its instructional staff in the upcoming school year, which will probably result in bigger classes and the elimination of electives such as photography, modern art and ceramics. Silver Creek High senior Anthony Chavez said he worries that students won’t get the same opportunities with just one counselor for more than 2,400 students. “Through my four years here, my counselors helped me with everything. I’m the first generation in my family to go to college,” he said. “I didn’t even know what SATs were.”
And it’s not just our neighbors who are losing out, we are losing teachers and programming right here too.
Teacher layoffs putting Modesto’s Fremont Open Plan in jeopardy
[ J.N. Sbranti; Jun. 02, 2010] After thriving for 34 years as an alternative elementary school, teacher layoffs are putting Modesto’s Fremont Open Plan in jeopardy. The alternative school has nine teachers, but two of them are retiring and three others have been told they’re being laid off because of budget cuts. Modesto City Schools is slicing $25 million from its 2010-11 budget because of funding shortfalls. To save money, the district is boosting class sizes and reducing teachers. That includes laying off about 55 elementary school educators, based on seniority. “We feel the continuity of our program is in jeopardy,” Fremont Open Plan parent Patti Reeder told trustees.
They weren’t the only community members to share their concerns. With teacher layoffs and school closures, scant humanities or after school programs, some look to other methods of learning.
EDUCATIONAL EMPOWERMENT
Your Mission is to Learn, Act, and Imagine a better community
- LEARN – Interview a family you know (youth and guardians) regarding education. How have the education levels and educational quality in Modesto affected them? What choices have been made because of it? What options have or have not been available?
- ACT – What can you do about it? Using your own self-described super power, work with friends, family, neighbors, or other Super Heroes to empower one youth, or one community, with better access to education or a higher quality of educational richness.
- IMAGINE – Unleash your creativity and battle the over-sized classrooms!!
- Ask A Mentor for Help
ARG mission 1
Learn- I talked to my aunt who has two young boys. the oldest is 9. When I talked to her about it she said that she was getting ready to put her kids into soccer, but said they decided not to because they can see my my older cousin falling behind. My Aunt thinks it’s because their is allot more kids in his class not. he isn’t getting the attention that he got before
act- I would institute a school voucher program, so if parents were not satisfied with their school they would have the choice to take them somewhere else. I would also try to organize as many parents as I could to volunteer to pick up these programs, so that they would hopefully not go away.
Imagine- if I had an unlimited amount of recourses I would give parents much larger vouchers so that they could choose any kind of school they wanted, and it would be fully paid for. I would also build more schools, especially is lower income areas. I would make sure that all the new school I built had all that they needed to be versatile, in that they could offer many different things to capture the students interest.
LEARN: I have learned that there are many issues with the educational system in Modesto. The approach I chose to take on how to “fight crime” that is going on in schools is not to focus on the lack of money and funding, but to take what we do have and make the most out of it. What we do have are environments that are not adequate for positive learning environments. Children need to feel safe and not be worried about fitting in, being bullied, or being excepted in a learning environment.
ACT: I purpose that schools give a lot of focus to making the learning environment safe and productive. Budget cuts have caused the number of teachers to decrease which means less one on one time with the students so with time being limited I think that quality beats quantity. The quality of the school environment is corrupted when “bullies” make children fear coming to school and make then unable to focus while at school. I think that this problem is solved by getting the parents involved with speaking to their children about appropriate classroom behavior and having a “No Tolerance” policy when it comes to bullying. Harsh punishments resulting in privileges being taken away to enforce these rules. Children need to understand acceptance and that school needs to be full of positive reinforcement with revoked privileges if you put another students educational opportunities in jeopardy.
IMAGINE: With these actions in place I believe that one day schools everywhere will be positive and fun environments for kids to gets an education but also to make them better, more accepting and understanding people. Education is so important and when money and the amount of teachers and materials are lacking, we must make what we have the most positive and productive as possible. One day all children across the country will wish school would never end!
Learn
I interviewed a family with small children about how their education is being affected by the budget cuts across the educational system. They were not happy with the lack of arts and crafts and the cuts being made to educational field trips. Their children are stuck in the public school system and they felt that their education was suffering. With the cut to field trips, they felt that their children were missing out not only on the fun part of school, but the learning experiences to be had by going to museums, galleries, and even some factories. These people feel like their children are missing out on life and educational shaping experiences and we need to change this by starting in the areas that the government is trying to save so that we secure those areas enough to bring back the creativity, passion, and fun to schools.
Act
To make a difference, I have to start simple and work my way up. This will be easy with my power. I’m going to start by raising the supply of school materials, such as books, so that it will cut the schools’ costs and help raise literacy. This small task could give the schools enough money to bring back at least one of the programs they’ve been cutting or attempting to cut. From there, I can create science supplies so that science classes can be more in-depth and again, saves the school more money. We can work towards creating music instruments, art supplies, and even adding more buses so that field trips can be more likely. I could make sure that school lunches are plentiful and food that is wasted will be transformed into compost to help beautify the schools. These small differences will induce confidence in the school officials and inspire them to make changes of their own to help me and the kids they helping shape.
Imagine
If I had all the resources available to me, I would make sure that all schools were able to keep these very important programs in their curriculum. I would make sure that schools had plenty of money to cover the costs that these programs require. I would make sure that they used the money to buy books to promote literacy and make sure everyone is able to learn equally, to buy important supplies to aid in the teaching of certain subjects, to pay for sports equipment to allow not only the teaching of how to play sports, but to teach the importance of teamwork, perseverance, and drive. Money would go towards a “creative hour” where kids are able to learn about and express the creativity, passion, and artistic abilities. This will teach them about how important imagination can be in solving their own problems and the problems of others with creative solutions and compassion. To help the schools continue to make their own changes, I would give them plenty of ideas for fundraisers to raise their own money so that when I’m no longer there to help them, they can continue to keep their programs intact.
Animation is finally working! Hooray!
Doctor Jerry Rytloc’s Journal Entry #3: Mission 1 – Education (commence)
Upon arrival I drove to Atwater, California where Xia lived and is staying at his place for now. He welcomed me and made his small place to accommodate me as well. So we spent good hours going over education cuts in California and all over the United States. He told me that a lot of after school programs are being cut such as Leadership Clubs to Music Clubs. This is a bad thing because without these clubs students would not be able to accomplish things outside of school that can benefit the community and their education. No music clubs meant no one to help students who are musically talented sharpen their skills. We need everyone to be aware of this and we need to do something about it as soon as possible!
LEARN:
I interviewed one of Xia’s close relative. They are a nice family of six. Two children are in high school and the other two are in elementary. I talked to the parents and they are very well aware of how the downturn of the economy has effected their children’s educational system. The dad told me that he got laid off from his older job not too long ago and was struggling to find another job which he did found just two months ago. The mom is a stay-at-home mother and raise the four children mostly on her own because the father works all day and only come home late at night.
Their second oldest son who had after school tutoring two years ago doesn’t get it now. They don’t speak English very well because they’re South East Asian so this make it a lot harder on them as they try to communicate with the school and what the school is doing in terms of trying to cope with budget cuts. Their translator who usually translate between them and their student’s teacher during a student-parent-teacher conference has been laid off so this only really just deepens the wound.
Not only that a lot of elementary school traditions such as Field Day and yearly field trips has been cut. They have noticed that within the past year or two the elementary school that their children are attending had dropped field trips entirely. This is very devastating because when I was younger one of the things I really enjoyed and remember from elementary school were class field trips whether it was to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to learn about fishes and dolphins or the the local library they all sculpted who I am today. You can’t just learn day in and day out of a book, field trips are essential to educational growth! Kids need to be able to experience the Science Museum or the Space Museum or whatever museum their city has to offer because believe it or not children will be more prone to remembering something when it’s hands on and it’s right in front of them.
The family hasn’t really been able to do anything about the changes in the education of their children. This is a very sad situation because the problem is beyond them and their own budget. They are trying their best to cope with the changes as with the school.
ACT:
I am not sure how I could help with this growing problem. But I told Xia I would do everything in my “power” to help out his community. I know right now that a lot of people are in budget crisis and it seems the government has other things on their to-do list, this really saddens me. Not only is education a big issue, health care is in big debate as well. With my healing powers and connection I can open up a clinic here and treat as many people as my body will allow me daily for free. I know many other doctors who are willing to help.
My gift that I was born with were given to me for a greater purpose I didn’t ask for it but people are asking for help I cannot deny the help of another fellow human being. I hope this will help the people with their health care issues so they can better cope with other things that need to be coped with. If a person is not sick and is not so much stressed they will be able to think clearer and make better decisions for their family, whether it be for their child’s education or something else.
All we need to do is help one another and realize that we are only as different as how we look like. What we feel inside and what we go through are very similar as in terms of stress and raising a family and putting a child or children through school during such a tough time. People should be helping one another in a time of need, open up a free food center, or free after school tutoring. Xia’s brother use to tutor people in math during high school after school was over for a very small fee but I am sure if Xia talks to him he could probably help out again. Or if a person who is musically talented could spend an hour or two helping out children with their piano lessons. What the government won’t do we as the people should be doing. The government should be holding us in their hearts but that is not the case, only if we lived in a perfect world…
IMAGINE:
If I, Doctor Jerry Rytloc, Healzor the Healer could obtain as much power and resource possible I would make first and foremost that the people of this country be on top of the to-do list. We can’t be wasting our resources on dropping more bombs on other countries. When people look at our war history and then look at the state in which our country is in they would completely understand. We pumped so much time, effort, money, and resource into two wars now our economy and the people here are suffering for it as well. We are not only dropping bombs on other countries but we are dropping it on ours as well… Think about it.
Resources is not infinite, nothing really ever is except renewable energy which one don’t use enough of. I would make sure we use our resource in a more limited way. I know people who brush their teeth and let the water run for minutes on end when we have people in other places around the world that can’t even get a droplet… Think about it. We as a nation consume the most of the non renewable energy… We got to find alternative.
Now if we can sustain our budget and our economy then everything below that such as education, healthcare, etc. would be a lot easier to solve and mend. It starts from all the way up there, we have to work from there down to where education and healthcare is at. We can’t work with any of these if we don’t fix our budget and debt first. Imagine…
For me the schools loosing teachers hit home a little harder than most. My wife is a CSU Stanislaus graduate student who was teaching young high school kids how to better speak in a speech class when the budget cuts to the schools eliminated her job. I decided to take a look deeper into what was going on.
Learn-
I decided to take a look around and went to a local junior college and my friend told me that his music program that he was majoring in was being drastically cut and that he may have to wait. Another told me that her art program was going to be removed completely and that she would have to go to another school entirely or even another state for her degree! This simply won’t do! I have to find a way to help the people I care about succeed in their own goals! If it’s bad here at the junior college the children must be suffering an even greater injustice! That’s why I decided to take action… Adouchi the Shadow of Vengeance was going to get some action done… starting with our apathetic and corrupt government!
Act-
The shadows slipped around my form as I called them to become Adouchi and before long I was heading to the California capital building. Slipping inside unnoticed and quietly, it wouldn’t take long before I was in for a fight. The legislators were tough and unrelenting but after my gaze of justice they saw the error of their ways and started to make a change pushing for bettering of the public school systems across the board from K-12, to the junior colleges and universities. Next it was the people of California itself. You can’t spend money without bringing it in and thanks to a good superhero named Corrupt Angel using her mind warp powers, the people started to understand that fact. Maybe now we can get things done!
Imagine-
With the corrupt politicians now working to help California’s youth and Corrupt Angel using her powers to get the people of California to understand, taxes were raised to produce more revenue for the government to use. Funding was quickly put back into the schools and even added more to help reverse the shortfalls that had started to happen all over! The day is saved…. for now.
CAVE MAN BEAR CHIEFTAIN RALLIES TEACHERS IN DOWNTOWN MODESTO
as i closed the dirty graphitti’d phone booth door on this busy street i fumbled through my trenchcoat pocket for some loose change, lighter, bubblegum, ahh three quarters.
“hello?” the voice on the other end calls out. “who’s this?”. “never mind who this is”, i say “i have an important mission for you and your husband. it’s life or death”. after a short pause, the voice on the other end says that she’s calling the police and that she can see me in the phone booth outside then hangs up. looking around and confused, my bear-power of intelligence is telling me that i may have called the wrong number so i check it. sure enough, what i thought was a four turns out to be a smeared nine. fearful that i may have to hurt humans, i leave for another phone booth. i slip away into the night.
this time i get it right, and its the voice of a friend of a friend’s second cousin’s merchant marine friend’s professors wife. she accepts my important mission. one that will have future consequences. i ask her about education in her town (linden). she doesnt have much to say because she has an eight year old and a 6 year old. she recognized the lack of funding for things like field trips and the fact that the class has to meet rigorous testing deadlines. she noticed this primarily out of comparison with her own school experiences as a child. she did say thay school lunches are better now because of a salad bar and healthy choices. I’d prefer a meat-bar with meat-salad. She also said that the large number of kids per room have been making the personalized instruction impossible so she actually has to spend time with the children on their homework. I mean who would have thought that parents actually have to educate the kids. apparently this lady needs some superpowers. my daylight personality is a liberal studies major, i didnt appreciate this.
because of my daytime presonality as a libs major, i know all about these issues. as a bear-hero and chieftain i set policy and uphold the law. i have some insight on how these problems can be fixed and they start at home. PARENTS! take matters into your own hands and educate your own kids. I mean give the teachers a hand they have to meet deadlines and standardized testing. throw them a bone once in a while. volunteer in their classrooms. educate yourselves instead of maintaining the status quo. our community needs to get healthier and self centeredness is not helping. having kids is a major responsibility so stop sending them to school so you can have a life. take part, get engaged. school used to be conducted in one room coal fired school houses, we dont need funds or money to teach our kids, we need dedication and maturity. as a bear, maturity comes early and it is celebrated with the great bearp-tism ceremony.
as for higher education. we bears realize that ilife is survival of the fittest, and to say that it doesnt apply anmore to humans is naieve and stupid. we bears think that higher education should be hard to achieve to weed out the impossibly undedicated people. schools should also be non-profit and salaries should be regulated. humans have the power of intelligence too, but it is tempered with laziness and entitlements.
my bear powers of strength and intelligence would set about fixing this with more community involvement in education, then at the government level i would institute a tax break for families with children on the honor roll. this should appeal to anyone that likes money. in order to help families get the tax incentive, i would then set up volunteer community-tutoring centers staffed with csus libs students as part of the degree program. with extra money in their pockets familes could afford more while their kids become smarter, thus breaking the cycle.
this is how us bears think…..humans have a long way to go…..
The family I interviewed has only had their children in school for a couple of months. They feel the quality of education their children are receiving in Modesto is decreasing to a worrisome quality. They feel their children will be ill-prepared for their future academic careers. Because of this, this family is trying to be more hands on when it comes to academics.
Being the superhero that I am, I planned to do something about the shortcomings of Modesto’s education system. First, I will send information to the parents of Modesto city school students regarding budget cuts and how those budget cuts will affect the education of their children. With this information I will include suggestions and ideas about how parents can fill the gap left by the budget cuts. I will also establish several supplemental education centers near existing Modesto City schools. These centers will focus on activities that have been cancelled in schools due to budget cuts, for example, art, music, and sports.
Me growing crops at an accelerated rate!
I’ll use my super power of the ability to grow plants in lightining speed to help local farmers with their crops in exchange for donations to fund my education centers! Other than this, my superpowers are pretty useless for this mission…unless there’s an evil janitor >_>
After much preparing, it is finally fine for me to begin my first mission! Though, I suppose I should be honest that most of the preparations were taken care of by my host. She worked hard and deserves some well earned rest to recover from her cold. When she feels sick, I feel sick and there’s nothing more than I hate in the world than feeling sick.
Mission Intro: The first mission was to help first the education situation over in Modesto. This was not an easy task for several reasons. One, I’ve never been to Modesto save for a handful of times so I don’t really know much about the city. Two, I don’t know anyone who went to school in Modesto. But, as is my nature, right when I was feeling down, I thought to myself, No, Mr. Freckles! Don’t you dare give up on me! Where there is a will there is a way!
Learn: And what a rage filled way there is! I talked to a friend of my host’s about her experiences going to human school near Modesto. According to her, all of the administrative are thieves, most of the teachers are idiots who don’t care about teaching, a small percentage of the teachers are “cool”, most of the students don’t care about anything, the classes are large and impersonal and there just aren’t enough supplies to go around! Wow, you human sure do have it tough.
Act: Well, the Human Education situation does seem bleak. No, bleak isn’t quite the right word. I think the word I was going for is “AHARHHHHHAslakdlkasjdlksjdk”, or some other word that means “extremely frustrating”. But no matter how hard things are, a student who wants to learn will learn! Look at me, I didn’t want to learn spells or incantations when in school, so instead I learned all about the ancient languages of the Xiizdtj’N of the Brazilian rain forests. No one pushed it down by throat and, really, no one was supporting me either. I think people, especially children, need to learn earlier in their lives that sometimes the only one standing by them will be themselves. It might seem a bit dark to tell a child, but its the truth and it will only make them tougher!
Imagine: First of all, I would like to say if I had infinite resources, the first thing I would buy would be a nicer place to live and a year’s supply of beef stew. But, with the money left over, I would definitely help the children. Really, I would. Please don’t look at me so judgmentally! Anyway, I still like my original idea of kids being self reliant. I wouldn’t give them anything. Even with a million billion dollars, the most I would do for them would be to open up Mr. Freckles’ Super Library! It will be a twenty story building and it will house every book in the world in it, either on paperback or on the computer. Anyone would be able to access this information for free, at their leisure. Gosh, I never knew I could be so nice! See how nice I am? Though the money it takes to build that Super Library could go towards buying quite a number of delicious beef bowls…
(Edit 09/19: From my Host: “As it turns out, something went wrong with the compression so the previous video had several scenes condensed incorrectly. This is the correct version with every scene intact. Sorry about that…”)
So this is the video I was telling you about, the one my darling host has been busy on! It’s a story of how I met some complaining children at the library while I was totally not reading comic books. They were complaining heavily and sorta distracting me from what I was doing. “They cut my art classes.” “They cut by sports teams.” Wah, wah, that sort of stuff. Eventually, I had enough of it, and went to them and offered to create the best school in the world for them, using my super powers! Grabbing some butcher paper and a magic marker, I proceeded to draw the perfect school how I saw it. I had hoped that it would teach the kids a lesson in not pining away for unrealistic goals, but instead, it was obvious that these children lacked both imagination and a healthy sense of sarcasm.
When they insulted my beautiful art, that was pretty much the last straw! Call me a no talent hack with a bad dye job! Call me an unemployed freeloader with a penchant for laziness! Call me anything you want, but never, EVER, insult my beautiful art! My preschool teacher told me that my art was a work of genius! To say anything else would mean you’re calling that teach of mine a liar and that I just can’t tolerate! No way!
Anyway, so I miiiight have lost my temper a weee bit, but I told the children how I really felt and I told them honestly that the only one responsible for saving their dreams for the futures would be themselves. I half expected the children to shrug off my advice, so you can imagine my surprise when I find out weeks later that the same children I had spoken to in the library had taken it upon themselves to begin a “club founding” movement at their school. Whatever the schools were forced to cut, be it art or music or sports, there the students were, ready to work hard and maintain a club that would offer the exposure their niche interested demanded!
Sometimes it feels nice knowing you helped someone else do something they didn’t think was possible.
( And for those of you curious as to why the preview scene shown earlier is not shown now: massive technical issues. Do you want to know the one thing you don’t want to hear from the magical computer box when you are going towards your 3rd hour of animating something? “There is not enough PHYSICAL MEMORY to complete the simple task you have asked me to do. Please close as many windows as you want, but it won’t be enough. It’ll NEVER BE ENOUGH. I must eat the memory! EAT! FEAST! CONSUME!” Or something like that, though a bit more technical, I suppose. In any case, without the computing speed needed to render certain things, my host had to make sure the file remained small or else it would not be able to be opened up on her magic box. As a result, many of the smaller scenes had to be cut. Though they were small, they were important for the over all feel of the scene, but what could be done. -sigh-)
Learn: if you’re a musician then one could join choir or band, if you believe you’re athletically talented join a sport. Within this recession extracurricular activities are being viewed as unimportant, and are perceived as a money waster in schools.
Where are the school districts heading some may ask? Down the wrong path that’s for sure. I remember the time when school was looked at with enthusiasm and excitement. A place to make friends and participate in various clubs;
As I set out on my mission I came across a distressed family who is in fear of their children’s school experience. As we conversed I was in complete astonishment to discover that the AVID program has been eliminated, as well as music and sports cuts. I also was informed that there has been a rising issue of classroom sizes have being expanded. The distressed parents are in fear that without the help of AVID that their dear child will turn away from college. Huh?? What?? No college?? I’ve heard enough of this nonsense. I am the Fierce Dreamer, and since these children’s dreams are being crushed one by one, well it’s my job to intervene.
Act:
Have no fear, Fierce Dreamer is here! I have composed a bullet, fire, and water proof plan to correct the wrong doings of these dream crushers. For starters I will take over every local news source and hold a brief, yet effective lecture to strongly influence everyone to participate and volunteer in this desperate time of need. As the people of Modesto are listening to my luminous voice they will all enter a trance; where the visualize Modesto schools with no impact of the budget cuts whatsoever. In the trance the band is playing at the local football game, Art is displayed graciously within the schools, and the city. When the towns’ people snap out of the daze those that considered being wealthy will all run to the nearest bank and make immense amounts of donations to the Modesto district.
Okay so maybe that’s a tad bit unrealistic, but hey I am not called Fierce Dreamer just for fun. My super plan consists somewhat of gaining donations, but it falls mostly in the hands of us elegant dreamers. In this mission were going to use the community to our benefit Modesto isn’t called a “community” for no reason. First we will form a kinship with businesses, teachers, and other mentors to help fund raise. Just to help you fellow dreamers understand more efficiently here is an example to save the music program we put on a local save the music show. Where we gather bands, singers to play at a concert while families are able to sit and enjoy the entertainment. Or how about mini art exhibitions where individuals are able to purchase the art that they find most admirable.
Imagine:
To imagine a school without extracurriculm activities is like going to bed and not dreaming every night. Exactly it’s impossible! Societies have worked too hard to create a great school environment that has a little something for everyone. To see it slowly being taken away is devastating. With unlimited resources I would restore and improve the music, art, sports, and AVID programs. What some people fail to realize is that these activities are not just hobbies, but for most a dream career path. To have them taken away is basically saying to children that it’s just impossible for them to accomplish. Everyone deserves a haven away from home. Teachers are needed to inspire and motivate their students to reach for the stars. I would most definitely keep the AVID program because it has proven to be beneficial in helping students down the path to college.
LEARN – I interviewed a family with middle schoolers. One 7th grader and the other 8th grader. They’re both into music and the previous year were part of an after school program where they learned how to play instruments including piano and guitar. Due to the budget cuts, the school had to terminate the program. We need after school programs like these to keep our youth from trouble on the streets and to nurture their musical talents.
ACT- I have friends that can play music. They all work but I’m sure they can find a bit of time, at least 2-3 hours a week of their time to teach these young students some music theory and technique. Also, on my own time while away from the students, I’ll use my beard power to paint murals or paintings and put them up for auction and donate 100% of the proceeds to these after school programs.
IMAGINE – Money money money! Resources resources resources! I would use all the money I can and play philanthropist. I’d use the money to hire more teachers or re-hire them. The money could also bring back all the after school programs that are so needed. I can’t think of anything else, but I know there is more to do.
LEARN: The particular family I spoke with was not happy with the recent reduction in first grade teachers. There was a manageable amount of students before, but now they are dealing with an overcrowded classroom. This has affected the quality of learning. Not enough individual attention is given to each student and it shows. They have thought about moving their child to a private school, but have been happy with their public school in years past. They are having a much different experience so far and are considering various educational options for their child.
I interviewed a family that I am very close to and asked them how they felt about the educational quality in Modesto. I have two elementary age children of my own and found myself agreeing with many of their answers.
Art and music class is no longer offered in the school they attend. With the budget cuts, these were the first to go. However, some of the friends I spoke with felt that it is not a matter of money. It is a matter or priority. How bad do they want it? Since more emphasis is on raising test scores, less priority is given to the arts. Perhaps more art classes will help raise test scores.
A professor I spoke with expressed his concern with the lack of music in schools. According to him, music is linked to better test scores in science and math. In fact, most of the people he knows in the medical field are musicians. He felt it is important to get young children involved in music – the sooner the better. Keep it in the schools.
ACT:
Modesto schools are suffering. Bring back the art classes! No music? What are we to do? Leave it to Supermom to save the day and the artistic future of our children! I must take action! Our youth deserves a more well-rounded education. Let’s not let our kids suffer any longer.
It is my goal to advocate for the arts. I will gather parents who are willing to volunteer to help our schools and their lacking resources. After school programs need help. Parent involvement is the key to success. I want to excite moms, dads and grandparents about the importance of showing their support. It is important to develop a relationship with their child’s teacher and build an ongoing roll in the classroom. Parents can make a big difference and I want to make every mom feel like a Supermom.
Let’s not forget the involvement of local businesses. It is crucial to organize, communicate and network together to raise funds for our children. Why not a Family Arts and Crafts Night? Plays, musicals and field trips to museums are excellent ideas that need funding. We all need to spread the word so other parents who would otherwise not care, take notice. Budget makers fail to see the benefits of art education. This needs to change. Together we can make a difference.
IMAGINE:
Children are not receiving the arts education they deserve. Being involved in the arts is not only enjoyable, but also aids in reading, cognitive ability and critical thinking. Our children are missing out on so much. Through art they begin to see the world around them differently. It opens their eyes to a sense of wonder and creativity, and provides our children with a more enriching educational experience.
If I had all of the resources I needed, I would make sure all schools received the necessary funding to support the arts. There would be infinite resources available to them. Schools and children would always have art supplies and instruments available to them. I would give teachers their jobs back! I feel passionate about art and want children to experience the joy I had growing up. As a child, I couldn’t wait for art and music class. It was the absolute highlight of my day.
Children need to experience art education, especially the underprivileged. If families cannot afford private music lessons and art supplies, children should be given the opportunity at school. These experiences will enrich their lives. Education is not just about test scores. It is about creating a diverse education for all.
Alright so there is this huge problem in education here in Modesto. Seems that the schools are running out of money at an alarming rate. The city has searched for help and I have courageously answered the call. That’s what we super heroes do right? Well anyhow, Modesto has called upon the powers of lil ol me to rescue education from this dilemma. I’ve decided to investigate the matter and have scoured the neighborhood as my pedestrian identity to find answers. What is this problem? and What has attacked the coffers of our schools?
Corrupt Angel Investigates: Okay, okay so I couldn’t go investigating the matter in my superhero skivvies, so I’ve gone in pursuit of knowledge as my less conspicuous self. Can’t have a superhero roaming the neighborhood. What would the neighbors think? So, I asked one family…..,we shall call them the Smiths to protect their anonymity,….. how their experience was with their children’s school. Well, I was shocked to learn that their children’s favorite after-school program had been cut from the budget, the art club. “What no art club??!?!?!?! This will not do!” It turned out that the kiddies had become listless zombies and had fallen prey to less creative outlets of their time. the DREADED T.V.! This definitely sounds like a job for Corrupt Angel.
What to Do?: So how can I solve this conundrum? Well I will use my super duper tele-mind warp (yes that’s what it’s called!) to shape the minds of the community. Trust me I never use this power for evil…….promise. Anyhow, all they need is a little gentle persuasion in the brain to solve this problem. I’ve decided that all we need is for people to pitch in and work together to fill in where the schools are lacking. So, I told Mrs. Smith my idea and she immediately decided it was great. Here’s the plan: Go to the schools and devote spare-time and materials to restart the after-school program. Best yet, it won’t cost the schools a dime!
The Plan: My “normal” self insists that this can be done minus the affects of my super duper tele-mind warp (preposterous!). Whatever the case I will indulge her to lay out her non-super hero plans here:
I think that the education budget problem and the resulting cuts of extra-curricular activities can be prevented if resources from the community are utilized. For instance, your school can’t afford a football team? how about forming a mentor ship between local sports teams and parents or volunteers. Instead of having the state or city set aside funds for the activity have the parents devote time to coaching and pool funds to pay for the costs of the activity. Not only would this save the city tons of money, but it also would create lasting bonds within the community. This same idea could be applied for any of the after-school/ extra-curricular activities that are suffering during the economic crunch.
(For the record I, Corrupt Angel, could just use my super-duper tele-mind warp to make everyone see what has to be done! But perhaps my alter-ego is right……her plan is good too.
OH AND LOOK!!!!! The art student alter-ego put my exploits into a comic-book! What super-hero would be complete without a comic????) click here for comic part 1 click here for comic part 2
Captain Nideit!
Hello, foolish mortals. Foolish, feeble, weak and angular mortals. This is Sad Sack reporting from mission control (i.e., my couch). Apparently there was some sort of “mission” we super types had to accomplish by yesterday which I did not do. Obviously. I didn’t do it because I am very busy and important and have many demands for my time…and, also, I have no arms. That always tends to drag out the amount of time it takes me to do stuff. Any stuff. Like, for example, just scratching my butt is a major undertaking that rarely ends in any kind of real satisfaction. Sigh. Sigh. SIGH.
Trying to scratch in a puddle of Awkward Sauce
Well, anyway, today I put some effort that-hey, you know what would be awesome and super helpful? Elves. Little, tiny, Keebler-style elves that could just hang around here and like, scratch me when I itch…and maybe wipe the sweat from my flanks on a hot day…that’d be so good, man, I need elves. Elves. ELVES. So, today I put some effort into solving the educational crisis and here’s what I came up with:
LEARN
I was, like, supposed to learn something about the educational something or something. So I made a phone call to my alter ego’s Aunt Jan. Aunt Jan teaches fifth grade at an elementary school in Riverside, California and that totally qualifies her to talk about whatever it is we’re supposed to be talking about. She laid out how the state and nationwide cuts to educational funding have affected her school (and probably every other school in California especially Modesto). Apparently, the government’s made it more difficult for schools to qualify for Title 1 funds. These funds are supposed to level the educational playing field for disadvantaged kids and pay for things like; extra staffing, reading specialists, educational assistants, PE teachers and music programs. Yeah, all that shiznit. In fact, Aunt Jan’s school has dropped the arts altogether. Teachers are told to focus mainly on test scores for language and math. They’re even discouraged from putting student artwork on the walls because it’s considered a waste of time. Class sizes for kindergarten through third grade have also been affected by funding problems. The average size went from 15 or 20 kids to 30 kids per class in a few years. They were able to eliminate many teachers. Unfortunately, the ones remaining have to deal with book shortages and scrounging for desks and chairs. Also, the increased class sizes mean no small group interaction. Aunt Jan admitted that because of these obstacles, some kids will probably fall through the cracks.
ACT
Hmm. Okay, my own self-described super powers are as follows: Evil Eye, Wall of Impenetrable Despair, Really Awkward, Stinkybutt and Tedium. I’m not exactly sure how to channel these towards fixing the educational ills of society. I suppose I could sprinkle some of my Really Awkward sauce (it comes in a sauce format) upon the legislators and make them stew in it until they increase funding and awesomeness ensues. If I got my wish and had Keebler elves at my disposal I could just have them contact the Lucky Charms leprechaun and he could give us a pot of gold. But none of this is realistic. Aunt Jan said what would really help are community volunteers. Senior citizens or other helpful types with loads of spare time who could come in, assist the teachers, and give the kids more one-on-one time (but not in a pervy way). I guess that would be a way to start…I don’t know if I’m actually supposed to do that or not or if this is just hypothetical. If I actually have to do something, let me know, and I’ll go buy a random kid a book…with, like, equations in it.
Oh, it seems things just get worse and worse… After having graduated I’ve learned that many of the JC classes are being cut, faculty is losing jobs, and students are finding it harder to take classes! This simply won’t do
Learn-
It’s been a while since I’ve put on the mask, but after talking with several faculty some of them down right depressed, others terrified to speak due to the fears that if they spoke out in protest they would lose their jobs. Students upset and protesting almost daily through the end of the semester… It looks like we need more heroes than ever before.
Act-
Using my powers of shadow and justice I would go right up to the capital building, again and start to get things done, but that isn’t the source of the problem. Some think it is but it isn’t. It is the ordinary citizens of California that need to vote to raise taxes, despite this recession, despite the financial burden we owe it to the future generations to secure their learning future. I would use my resource to help by paying as much as I could to slow or stop the process while these effects came into place so that the long term goals would win in the end.
Imagine-
With an infusion of funds and the powers of myself getting people and government in line our schools are getting more money, teachers can keep or get jobs and the fears are slowly stopping. Teachers can teach with the confidence that next semester they will be here. Students can learn with confidence knowing their favorite teacher won’t be gone tomorrow. That is what I call saving the day for the schools. Adouchi Out!
Nice ideas!
The stan state classes and teachers need our help to save us from the budget crisis.
I think the uses of iPads in schools is a really great step towards making sure that all students develop digital literacy, and the caliber of some of the education games is really outstanding.