Student 3

With an economic crisis many things suffer. One of things suffering that we are seeing in this recession is budget cuts. As Californians we are seeing it everywhere. Such as; schools, work, and businesses around us. While celebrities are still living their plush lifestyles and police officers are riding around in top of the line vehicles with top of the line technologies.
The biggest effects of the budget cuts we are seeing are in the school systems. The fundamental building blocks that we acquire as humans we develop in education and school. So what are we doing to our offspring and our future if we cut many programs and money from our schools? What we are doing is eliminating the resources that are available to our children. According to the California Progress Report, they plan on cutting $4 billion from the schools budget. With that cut a crucial amount of teachers will be laid off. Also they plan on eliminating 4 weeks of school or if not that then increases the classroom size by 23 percent. The Sacramento Bee stated a plan to eliminate courses that are required to graduate high school and eliminate help for programs for low-performing schools. With all of these cuts and ideas where does that leave our children? Laying off an abundant amount of teachers would increase the classroom size in every school. Is there not a safety rule for our children that include a student teacher ratio? Not only is it a safety thing, but having smaller classrooms also give the students a more of a one on one with their educational provider. I believe that if classroom sizes were too large that would set an increase for low scores. Without that one on one time students will have to rely on themselves to do the work and not get extra help. Cutting programs that aid in the help of low-performing schools help no one. If they were to do that then schools and the students would go down hill. Low-performing schools look to the help of the programs that the budget includes. With out them students with the need of extra help would not receive it and would be stuck. I think that with that cut the number of students going to college would drop. Why would a student who got no help in school want to continue in higher education? They would be lost upon entering school.
Another area affected by the budget cuts is the work force. Many people who have spent most of their lives in one area of wok are now losing their jobs. People that had went to college and worked so hard to get their degree, found a job in their field, and worked in that field for many years not experiencing any other line of work. These are the majority of the people losing their jobs. Our country is in a financial crisis and the people losing their jobs is not helping. With the budget cuts, employers are being forced to lay off the employees because they can afford to keep them. The only way employers are seeing being able to keep in business is to outsource to other countries. So why keep someone here employed and pay them salary when they can out source to another country where their employees are willing to work for less. Where does that leave our society? It leaves in a bigger financial issue than where we started. With having so many people without employment, we have many people forced into debt. If they are not able to work than how are they able to afford to live and pay for their expenses. I have seen it first hand with my mom. She had a very decent paying job at a big company, that company went bankrupt and had to close down some offices. Unfortunately one of the offices was my moms. Now she had to find another job that pays less and she now has to live pay check to pay check. The only places that may be benefiting from these budget cuts, besides those being outsourced to, are the schools. Many people are going back to school to find a new line of work, try something new.
We are seeing business around us being hurt by the budget cuts as well. One business that used to be helpful to most that is suffering is the public libraries. What used to be a place for those to go for resources is turning out to be pointless. You used to be able to go to the library and use their computers and print things out for free. Now in some public libraries you have to pay. The whole reason for people going to the library to do work is because they couldn’t afford to have the resources at home. Grocery stores are also seeing the effects of budget cuts. Less and less lines are open. Less sale items every day. Small businesses are having to close because they can not afford to keep their doors open and keep employees. Businesses as simple as fast food places are seeing the results of a budget cuts. Prices are rising, extra charges such as certain sauces are being added. Everywhere we go, we see the affects of the budget cuts.
While many of us are suffering, there are those that are not. Those include celebrities and law enforcement. Most of the important jobs are disappearing because their employees are being laid off. But here are the celebrities still living their elaborate lives. Going out every night, living in billion dollar houses, driving expensive cars, and spending endless amounts of money. Why are they not suffering? It seems that the government is always looking out for the rich and the famous, while the people that make the world go round suffer. Another group of people I see not suffering is the law enforcement. I’m all for the police getting new technology that will help in their line of duty, but does that mean top of the line cars. I am starting to see police drive Dodge Chargers and Ford Mustangs. Is that really necessary? No it is not. I drive a Toyota Avalon and it is a very reliable car.
The way I see it is, yes obviously budget cuts are necessary when we are in this financial crisis. But what I do not agree with is the priority level of areas. I see schools being at the top of the list of not getting money cut from them. Are we not taught at a young age that school is the most important area of our lives? So what are we teaching are kids when they see that the school they go to has less money and resources every year? We are teaching them that certain people feel that school is not our/their number one priority. We are teaching them is that as long as you’re somebody famous you will always be taken care of.