Present Vs. Past

Max Serna

Ms. Williams

English 1A

October 1 2013

Impacts Of Poor Funds

The State Board Of Education has named a vast amount of schools around the counties which are categorized as the worst achieving schools. The schools are claimed to be “bad” schools due to the poor test scores on Government tests used to make money. The reason for the poor test scores isn't necessarily that the teachers aren't proper educators, or that the students are not capable of exceeding using what they are taught at school, but the fact that plenty of schools have very little to use. Numerous schools use outdated textbooks, have very old equipment if any, they can't afford to provide the materials or technology that is needed by the students. Poor funding in schools that are located in low income districts matters because it makes it difficult for these requirements of resources to be met, thus having the students fall behind or not have the information they need, causing the students to struggle and enjoy school less.

Schools that don't have funds for class materials risk the students education and ability to succeed in school. Boards Of Education may underestimate the issue as something that doesn't have much to do with the achievement of students, but in reality its more than important to have resources available for the students to study, or do homework and projects. The subjects change over time, and new information is included in textbooks, a math book from ten years ago can have different strategies than a newer generation of that same math book, which would be more useful for the tests because the students would be up to date with the information. In the book “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kozol, students that live in rundown poor districts are forced to use what they have, which is not even close to what they need, “We have no textbooks yet. Im using my old textbook from the seventh grade.” (pg. 105), these are situations that cannot  be tolerated in schools. Till this present day school districts don't receive the funds they need to have enough new textbooks required by all students, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in Compton, Ca. has 7 different grades from preschool to fifth grade and only one small library with very little books to offer. The amount of books compared to the amount of students is not near enough the amount that is needed. Both the schools in the book and King Elementary are in need of help in order to keep the students well educated in the correct manner, this affects the time it takes for the students to learn, they fall behind and are then placed in lower classes because they cant meet the expectations of the school boards of education.

The lack of materials in a school leads to more conservative actions that arent too beneficial for the students. The possibility that classes get cut from school is very likely to occur, leaving more money to “improve” the school in its weak areas. The problem with cutting these classes is that school loses a lot of its uniqueness since all that would be left to offer are basic classes like math, English and science, there would be no electives. The issue being that these elective classes aren't considered of much importance and are simply taken away leaving the students with no other knowledge, they have no way to express an unrevealed talent without these classes, “Many public schools are facing a stark  lack of resources, not only for arts classes but for other activities too. Over time, arts have been pushed lower and lower on the list of importance with regards to public schooling.” (Lack of Resources), just like in the book, none of the poor public schools offered any extracurricular classes except those that were in the suburbs and had money to afford these classes. I believe when a student doesn't have the option to choose from many different classes other than the standard subjects like Math and English, they get bored and don't really enjoy school, they have nothing to explore or use to relieve stress from classes. On a different note, if they did have these classes available with funds, then the students would be more enthusiastic about school, even if its only for one class, as long as they have something to look forward to and chase their dreams.

Funds towards schools will always be a great deal for the students, there is always something that is needed in schools, some more than others. Rather than putting schools down and categorizing how bad a school is, help should be provided in order to prevent more schools from being “low achievers” and also a consideration should be taken on whether the materials available are good enough for the students to use. Though there have been quite a lot of improvements in schools, there are still problems from the past that have stuck around to this present day and affect our school districts possibilities to fund for more books, libraries, computers, etc. We all need to join as a nation and settle these inequalities together rather than competing for the top, we all can achieve with the right actions.