"Thousands of students, teachers and parents in California and across the country are expected to stage rallies, demonstrations, walkouts and other actions Thursday to decry what they say is an assault on public education at all levels." Read more at
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-protests4-2010mar04,0,4387493.story
"Tomorrow's so-called Day of Action is in response to education funding cuts that have affected schools nationwide, but have been especially severe in California, where public colleges and universities have canceled classes, ordered furloughs and layoffs and enacted unprecedented student fee increases" (Rivera TIMES).
The budget is a wreck, it seems! Colleges need more money and will offer fewer classes too...As a public speaker, smarty and all around SCC superstar, what can you do to send the message to the top--We need to make it easier for everyone who wants to to go to school, not HARDER! Agree? Disagree? Sleeping? Chime in!Smiles--S
OMG i think it is ridiculous how all these budget cuts are affecting education. I mean not only is it going to be a billion times harder to find and get into classes but tuition costs are going up?? Not only that but its going to forever to graduate from college because students aren't able to get classes out of the way!! It makes me MAD as a student and its frustrating!! These PROPOSED budget aren't going to make anything better their just making our lives harder and even more difficult for our future."Education is the key to success" therefore shouldn't education be the last thing they consider on making budget cuts??
ReplyDeleteI understand that this country and the society that determines its activities is ruled by the almighty dollar. I suppose that in this time of struggle it is necessary to accept the inherent problems of a capitalist system. However, the issue here lies more in poor prioritizing than in fiscal shortfalls. Of course there is a huge deficit and only so much money to go around, but lets think about the way its being spent in terms of the long term. We in America are infamous for putting band-aids on problems that keep growing. Why are we willing to invest so much money in establishments like prisons when we put people in jail who don't belong there and refuse to legalize and regulate certain goods/services that would obviously bring in revenue? We do this and then take money away from education! Ridiculous! Investing in education should be one of the very top priorities for our budget. It is an investment with a return that is so great it can hardly be measured. Education creates jobs and opportunities that the economy desperately needs. It promotes new ideas and ways of thinking that can bring immeasurable benefits to this state, and indeed, this country. Without education, we run the risk of slipping back into the dark ages. Sacrifices need to be made of course, but a house cannot last very long without a foundation.
ReplyDeleteI lean to both sides of this issue. Yes a tuition increase would be detrimental to many, however, what else can we do? California has been notorious for years and years in over spending the peoples' money in the "wrong" areas. Now, as we face this economic recession, there are only limited ways to climb ourselves out of this hole. Personally, if paying more for school was what I HAD to do to achieve that shiny piece of paper on graduation day, then I would certainly do it. And I'd say most people would agree with me. Rather than complain, I feel as though people should accept the fact that we sort of screwed ourselves over the years by spending money we did not have. In an age where a college degree only gets you the interview and not neccessarily the job -- in other words, it's far more accessable than it ever has been -- if tuition increases and budget cuts will lead to a better education system 20 years from now for our kids to enjoy then yea I'm all for it. I am a firm believer that a college education should be free in the United States as it is in many other countries. Yet, that certainly will not happen tomorrow, or the next day, or even the next. It will only get harder first for it to someday get better -- we cannot expect so much with such little money.
ReplyDeleteI do believe education is the key to most of our success. I dont think the government relizes how difficult it is to find a class at a college. I also believe that the government could be making other cutts instead of public education. But what also erks me is that there is people that beat the system and ruin it for us "real students." Like the people that recieve thier financial aid checks and drop all their classes. Thats on average about $1000 per student that recieves financial aid. (And you wonder why the parking lot is cleared after two weeks) The government needs to regulate on subjects such as financial aid, so the right money gets to the right people.
ReplyDelete-Alexander L. Ballesteros
I think it's just too tragic that education is being so heavily impacted in this economy. The point of school is to make us educated, well-thinking adults who can get good jobs, support ourselves, and further contribute to the economy by being successful. Yet, whether costs are being raised or classes canceled, education is now harder to obtain, therefore causing the economy to continue in a downward spiral because not as many people have the access to education and success. I think it's natural to expect the costs to go up, but it's the lack of classes that I have a problem with. Less and less classes each semester, harder to get into the classes I need...It's frustrating. I'm honestly not really sure what we can do to get the message to the top because, in times like these, it's the money that talks, not the people, unfortunately. They don't want to listen to us because it doesn't save the money. I think there are so many cuts that could be made instead, or other ways to save money, yet it's not being done. Perhaps some of the people of California need to show more enthusiasm by staying in school every day, throughout the semester, and not drop classes or be discouraged with the lack of options. Maybe that would get a message across as to how important education is.
ReplyDeleteEducation is always the first to get it, isn't it? And this is so odd because without education that is funded properly we are forced to spend a lot more money later. Education should not have to fight so hard to be valued. It can change lives. It is what allows us to get better paying jobs, expand our mind, and make our country so great. From the bottom up, education is what makes a country. Our ability to invent and innovate is what keeps us at the top. And hey, I can be patriotic when it comes to something like this. As one of my favorite bumper stickers says, "The world will be a better place when the army has to have a bake sale for weapons." Or something like that anyway. Higher education is already so expensive! I know lots of people go the community college route just to avoid paying higher tuition for two years and I'll be saddened if even THAT becomes an impossibility. The system is so broken all around our country right now and I'm getting off on a tangent, but education should be valued at a lot more than it is. Without education, what are we? I don't want to know. --Kylen McCudden
ReplyDeleteRecession has never been easy on anyone, we all suffer from it one way or another, in our case as long as we are all students rising tuition definitely affects us and our instructors; less classes for us to choose, less hours for our instructors to teach us, longer time to graduate for us, over congested classes which means less attention us and more intensive work for instructors for less money and so on. How is important the education for all of us, we know that as well as the government; that is why we have public education in the first place. Saying that our government doesn’t care about education is not completely true, if you recall the recession has been around at least two years, and if you have paid attention to the news than you should have noticed that budget cuts were made in the social programs first, in different police departments, firefight departments, penetration system, and now budget cuts threaten to the public education system. It is a fact that during recession years more people are trying to enroll in public education for many reasons, some of them are taking classes to enhance their chances on job market while other are taking advantage of the education system and trying to survive hard times (that is why we see our parking garage half empty after two weeks from the beginning of a semester); more important the fact that increasing the tuition is not going to affect them, their tuition is being paid by the state, the increasing tuition is going to affect students, who are already paying $26 tuition and who definitely want their education. That is why the tuition should not be increased otherwise the budget cuts would cut off from education people who understand the importance of education for their future.
ReplyDeleteErica, if we had more teachers and counselors resembling you, the place would be much more fashionable! Wink--Stan, I agree with you too--budget hurst everyone--these comments are insightful! Missed you at the rally!
ReplyDeleteignacio salazar said
ReplyDeleteits bad, my first semester in college and the economy doesnt want me in school. but yea, education shoud b protected from the budget cuts. i mean the governmemt needs to protect the countrys future not screw them over.education is gonna make this country great.
School is getting harder to get in now. With classes being super packed and units costing more, it sucks. School should be protected from this crisis and the government should make this at lease one of their fist priorities, because current student are the future for this society like some mentioned in this blog. I agree with Alyssa; when it comes to the cost going up it's only natural since we are in a recession, but the lack of classes is what makes everything much harder. With that i think that it should be easier for student to have access to their education not harder.
ReplyDeleteCelia Basurto
I always believe that getting a good education is one way ticket to pursue someone's dream. However, this budget cut is hurting us, especially if the tuition fee is going up to forty dollars per unit. They (or whoever is responsible for this)should think twice before making a decision. It is not fair that students have to suffer because somebody did a poor job on our sytem.
ReplyDelete-Anna Marie A.
Jazmine Rojas-Escajeda
ReplyDeleteI am onw of those people who can't pay for college without finacial help. Even though i work part time to cover for my gas and such, i disagree that the budget cuts should be cutt from education money. We as a country depend on those who will work in america and with lousy education how can we do this? if the college tuition rises how am i and others expect to pay for tution? what, am i suppose to quite and keep working since we are in a crisis? hmm i wonder why we as students are suffering. Even elemntary schools are going through this crisis. what did they do to deserve such lose? the government should be asking them these same questions. Instead of cutting money from students whom are justy trying to get an education, these cutts should be made elswhere. I know the public afficials can make some adjustments, it seems they don't want too. what else is easier for them other than cutting off the students.
I think this is too late, but I have been sick so hopefully I will be ok. I really think the budget is a mess, but not a mess that cannot be fixed. The main problem is that people want more from the government without more taxing. All of the propositions failed that involved new taxes, so voters are to blame. Public education is not cheap for the state to provide, so we need to step it up. Sure we need to tax businesses and the rich, but if you tax businesses too much they will move elsewhere, as will people if you tax them too much. We need to all expect for things to get worse before they get better and all do our part. People think they cant afford to give the state another 100 dollars a year, but how many things do we buy that we dont actually need. I for example have spent more than that on alcohol in a single night. If each of californias 38 million people gave 100 dollars that would generate 3.8 billion dollars towards the deficit. If we dont want public education and other public services to dissappear we need to do our part as well.
ReplyDeleteSounds like every student is frustrated or mad here! Like Kyle said...what else can we do? The answer is, absolutely nothing. We can rally and lobby around-it's a waste of our time. If we haven't learned now that the government does whatever the hell they want to do, then this should be a HUGE clue! This entire scandal is about GREED - believe it. Pure, selfish GREED! Those at the top make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually-do you see them offering to take a pay cut? NO! I And they won't because (here we go..)they are GREEDY! But they want to raise OUR tuition prices by nearly 50%? Re-donk-u-lous!!!! Like always guys, just wait to see what happens next. More B.S to be expected!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to those good ol'Robin Hood days, steal from the rich to feed the poor? I'm so down with that! This is the ONLY resolution.
John Ward
ReplyDeleteWhile $40 a unit does seem a little steep for a community college, it still beats the price of a four year while getting your GE out of the way. $40/unit is still under $500 a semester for the standard 12 unit student. I'm with Keona too, Robbin Hood all day!
what can i say that hasnt been said...40bucks a unit is too steep...jc's are suppose to be cheaper and help everyone out....you cant raise the price of getting an good education any hire.. its like raising the price of amo right before a war
ReplyDeletemando
Well, see im not sure what to really say... I would believe it common knowledge that the higher education a country can receive positivly benefits the entire country. So it should really be one of the top priorities of the people in this country to make sure that America stays educated for so many reasons. But I mean those who are in charge would like us to stay dumb that way they can continue to pull our strings and make us think we want something that really doesnt help us.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Rivera
Victoria Venegas
ReplyDeleteThe tragic outcome of California’s state budget is greatly effecting everyone’s education. It seems that when making cuts, education is the first where cuts are made. Due to the cuts being made less funding to school programs are becoming extinct. Many children and college students will face a challenging path in order to receive the best education possible. For children, school programs such as sports, clubs, and special education services are very important to enhance their abilities to do well in school. As for us college students, the raise on tuition for just the Los Rios Districts is not horrible if they are raising the fees by only twenty dollars per unit. The Los Rios District has the fewest inexpensive community colleges to attend; almost all community college’s fee per unit is around $70.00 and up. Although I do agree on how ridiculous the tuition increase has affected the students of the UC and CSU systems. There should be a fair price on how much students should pay to attend school to better benefit their social and economic outcome in the future.
Megan Miranda said..
ReplyDeleteSo I used to like to think of it this way: For 2.50 I can pay for my classes.. or I can buy 2 mcdoubles. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! I hate to imagine that school is going to cost me more because honestly I cant afford it. So what do I do? Get mad or start rallys? Protests? Nothing.. I know if you want something to change you cant just sit around and wait for it but i do. Lots of people gave good ideas but i dont know, i find it really stupid that prices are going up yet classes are decreasing and so are majors and lots of other opportunites. The government wants us fat, dumb and poor. and the gap between the successful and unsuccessful keeps getting bigger. What can we do? Keep trying till we finish and always find a way..
It isn't fair that tuition has to rise. The economy is making hard for people to find jobs. So if they keep raising tuition it will be difficult for students just to finish instead of having a job. We can't do much to fix it. We just have to go through with it and pretend everything is simply happy go lucky and make the best of it. I think we just have to go through this mess and come out the other side alive.
ReplyDeleteEric