Financing the Future Essay -- Essays Papers

Financing the Future The Quest for Educational Equality "So", writes the immortal Dr. Seuss, "be your name Buxaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van O'Shea, you're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So†¦get on your way!" Unfortunately, unlike the graduating class this speech was addressed toward, many students in today's urban education system are not of to "Great Places", and will never get the chance to move mountains. These students attempt to learn without textbooks, proper laboratories, or even pencil and paper. The schools are falling apart around these children; in some cases sewage continuously floods the halls, the crumbling roof cannot shut out the weather, and there are even gapping holes in classroom walls. It is definitely not "their day". The problem with our education system finds its roots in funding. We live in a capitalist society where some have the money and others do not. In a poor community, where a family struggles just to put food on the table to feed their kids; the funding necessary to support the schools just is not there. Conversely, in a wealthy community, where the families never go hungry or worry if they will have shelter over their heads, there is a comfortable pool of funds to support their schools. This creates a clear division between the poor schools in urban areas and the wealthier suburban schools. The Wall Street Journal once wrote that "Money doesn't buy better education†¦The evidence can scarcely be clearer" (Kozol 133). They argue that the per-pupil spending has increased, while test scores and other student achievements have remained the stagnant. This conclusion, however, was based on the fact that the spending rate had increased in both urba... ... you will say, 'I don't choose to go there.' With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street." Unfortunately, like so many of our improperly educated, it looks like our schooling systems are going down that "no-so-good street" and we must use our "head full of brains" to turn away and fix the inequalities right before our eyes. Works Cited "Addressing Violence in Oklahoma." The Addressing Violence in Oklahoma Coalition. June 1995: pg. 1. Online. Internet. 16 November 1997. Giuliani, Rudolph. "A vision for education". 11 August 1995. "It's Not the Money, It's the Principal." Editorial. TIME 27 October 1997: 92. Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1991. Seuss, Dr. Oh, the Places You'll Go! New York: Random House, Inc., 1990