Draft 2

Education in the United States is in a steady state of decline. In a time where American jobs have become more advanced, having well rounded, educated students is more important than ever. A steady stream of cuts over the past few years has resulted in a decrease in both the quality and motivation of our students. According to the LA times, when Jerry brown took office we were about $25 million dollars in debt, and since then we have experienced many large cuts to the general fund. It is now the smallest share in our history; I think it’s time to get our priorities straight in California. As a first year college student, I have witnessed the impact of these cuts in all aspects of public school; I recognize the value of education, how important it is to have teachers who care and a school with enough resources to sustain an intelligent student body. This is why I believe you should vote yes on Proposition 30.

Gerry Brown’s proposition 30, is a measure that will result in a slight increase in taxes (About 1/4^th of a cent in sales tax for four years, and 1-3% raise in income tax for people who make 250,000 or more, for seven.). This money will be put towards k-12 schools (89%), community colleges (11%) and public safety. This goes back to proposition 98, which states that at least half of the general fund must be used for education, and this money can fulfill that requirement and frees up $5. billion that can go to things like higher education and healthcare. The left over money can go towards filling the gaps in our various public safety programs. If the measure is denied, we will be facing $4.8 Billion in “trigger cuts” to many important programs in California.  These cuts will most likely devastate the already crumbling system, and will cause many students to not be able to afford higher education at all.

Education is the best way to prepare our people to work and find jobs in this advancing market. Many jobs require much more than on the job training, they also require a general education. People need to have all the necessary critical thinking and writing skills if they want to be able to keep up with the world today. This country was once valued for its strength in education, and is now one of the lower ranking countries in that area. Countries like India and china have a much higher rate of graduate students, even accounting for their much larger populations. I feel like if the school system continues to decline like it has been, more and more jobs will be outsourced, and all of this will continue to weaken our middle class.

Critics argue that this proposition is just another way for politicians to take more of your money without giving back to schools at all. They claim that this is nothing but a “shell game”; supposedly they will be able to remove the money by taking the existing money for schools and replacing it with the money from the new taxes. They claim these “Massive hikes” in taxes won’t go to schools at all and it will only put California in even worse debt. In the actual proposition, it is stated that there will be strong fiscal control over this problem, adding to the constitution that the money will go into a special account called the Education Protection Account (EPA), guaranteed only to be used for schools. They claim that the money will be audited every year to assure that its being spent where they say it will, they have authorized criminal prosecution for misuse of the funds. This proposition differs from others such as Proposition 13, because they plan on giving more control of the money to smaller governments, so that the public can help make decisions for the schools in their communities.

Over the past four years, there have been more than $56 billion dollars to education and public safety. These cuts have affected everybody from the elderly, to schoolchildren, and everyone in between. If we really want to change our economy in California we need to do things differently, why not put some of the focus on the next generation? I believe that young people today deserve to have a chance to follow their dreams, whether that is the American dream or something completely out of the box. In Monterey country, where I went to high school, they passed a measure called ‘Measure P’. This measure is similar to Proposition 30 because is imposed a similar rise in taxes and allowed many schools in my district to begin getting repaired. This measure passed because there are a lot of high income people in Monterey County, and they recognized the need for improvement in out schools. At my school alone the amount of work taking place was staggering, it was great to see how excited the students body and staff was. I honestly believe this is a lot of the reason our test scores and attendance got so much better that year. It seemed like once everyone realized the district was taking our school and education seriously, we felt like we should take it seriously as well.

            Now that I’m in college, I can now see the effect this economy is going to have on my future. Over the last few years, tuition has raised 89%, 400 classes were cut and the overall course offerings have gone down 10%. Cabrillo has some of the most amazing libraries and tutoring opportunities I’ve ever seen, and now I’m finding out that hours have been decreased. It’s nearly impossible to enroll in classes, and I absolutely cannot imagine how much worse it will be if proposition 30 doesn’t pass. I do know that we will lose space for 780 students and many more classes will be cut. I know that many more young people may give up, and might decide that school isn’t worth the trouble. I’m very thankful that I’m not the type to give up, and I have a lot of faith in my generation. I hope that the rest of California can see how much we deserve this, and I hope that every student going to school right now has the strive to be your best.

NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING DONE..

                Education in the United States is in a steady state of decline. In a time where American jobs have become more advanced, having well rounded educated students is more important than ever. A steady stream of cuts over the past few years has resulted in a decrease in both quality and motivation in our students. As a first year college student, I have witnessed the impact of these cuts in all aspects of public school; I recognize the value of education, how important it is to have teachers that care and a school with enough resources to sustain an intelligent student body

According to the LA times, when Gerry brown took office we were about 25 million dollars in debt, and since then we have experiences many large cuts to the general fund. It is now the smallest share in our history; I think it’s time to get our priorities straight in California. Gerry Browns proposition 30 is a measure that will result in a slight increase in taxes (About 1/4^th of a cent in sale tax, and 1-3% raise in income tax for people who make 250,000 or more) and will put that money towards k-12 schools, community colleges and public safety. If the measure is denied, we will be facing $4.8 Billion in “trigger cuts” to many important programs in California. These programs include everything from higher education to public safety. These cuts will most likely devastate that already crumbling system, and will cause many students to not be able to afford higher education at all. It will result in three weeks less school for k-12 students and about 1 billion dollars in cuts to CSUs and community colleges.

In the past California has rejected many attempts to raise taxes and I definitely understand the mistrust people must feel with our government. It seems like this spending problem we have cannot simply be fixed by spending less, and it’s going to take a lot of time. Education is the best way to prepare our people to work and find jobs in this advancing market. Many jobs require much more than on the job training, they also require a general education. People need to have all the necessary critical thinking and writing skills if they want to be able to keep up with the world today. This country was once valued for its strength in education, and is now one of the lower ranking countries in that area. Countries like India and china have a much higher rate of graduate students, even accounting for their much larger populations. I feel like in the school system continues to decline like it has been, more and more jobs will be outsourced, and all of this will continue to weaken our middle class.

Critics argue that this proposition is just another way for politicians to take more of your money without giving back to schools at all. They claim that this is nothing but a “shell game”; supposedly they will be able to remove the money by taking the existing money for schools and replacing it with the money from the new taxes. They claim these “Massive hikes” in taxes won’t go to schools at all and it will only put California in even worse debt. In the actual proposition, it is stated that there will be strong fiscal control over this problem, adding to the constitution that the money will go into a special account guaranteed only to be used for schools. They claim that the money will be audited every year to assure that its being spent where they say it will, they have authorized criminal prosecution for misuse of the funds.

Over the past four years, there have been more than 56 billion dollars to education and public safety. These led to less police protection, increased fire response time, caused overcrowding in prisons, and hurt so many different groups of people. Proposition 30 will be a way to begin to fix this, as some of the funds will go back to these important programs. Prison overcrowding will be reduced by allowing more oversight of parolees, and will give people opportunities to take classes and improve their life instead of just staying in prison.

Proposal.

Title: Why is it important for proposition 30 to pass?

Author:

I am and 18 year old first year college student. I chose a community college that wasn’t the one that everyone from my high school went to, because I wanted a better and different opportunity. I make minimum wage and pay for classes without the help of financial aid. I think I am a credible source for this topic, because my experience in each aspect of lower and higher education is still fresh in my mind. I’ve witnessed the struggle of finding classes that work for me, because I commute and only have so many options. I’ve witnessed the struggle of high school students that no longer see the value in education, because of the lack motivation of everyone from teachers and staff, to parents that know they might never be able to afford the future they wanted there children to have. It’s sad when there’s nobody around to help you, and I'm ecstatic that I was able to get past all of that and go for my dreams anyways.

Date:

This is a time in our state and country of incredible economical strife, a time where we are so in debt it only makes sense to start having our priorities straight on where taxpayer money should go.

Topic:

Proposition 30 is a measure that is supposed to raise taxes in order to guarantee some money for schools, and I think at this time education might be the only thing that can keep our country from falling apart. This generation is important, because we are going to have to pick up all these problems in our future.

Exigence:

It only makes sense to give us an opportunity to get an amazing education, one that is both quality and affordable. We shouldn’t have to worry about paying off student loans in the future; we should be creating our existence by then. We shouldn’t have to worry about the quality of our education getting worse every year just because the school can’t afford to have enough classes for everyone, and has to keep cutting the things that are most important. I feel like there is no better place for taxpayer money to go, there always looking for some way to raise taxes, so why not make sure there is some money set aside for our future.

Intended audience:

Anyone who is going to vote, but doesn’t understand the effects it will have on this generation’s future. I feel like unless you’re going to school right now, or your children are, it’s almost impossible to understand the direction its going.


Logos:
Prop 30 will:
Prevents cuts to K12 schools, as well as a shotened school year. This is hugly important, because if our younger generations arent getting enough money, the lack of motivation will start even earlier. Teachers tend to lose hope very easily and it can really take a toll on the quality of their teaching. I was lucky enough to go to an amazing elementary school on the east coast, and the difference in california shocked me. I felt significantly less challege when I moved here and it was depressing. I could have done work at that age that was much more intresting and at a much higher level, but because of the lack of funding and programs that dont allow you to go out of a certain range, I felt myself going backward all the way through highschool and I know that we all have so much more potentiall than what we were given.
Prevent a 250 million dollar cut to CSUs. Arent they expensive enough? At this point I cannot see myself being able to afford it at all, and that gets even more real to me when I see this statistic. There are so many impacted majors, overcrowded schools, and people that are forced into online classes when they know they will get a better experience with real people.
I dont think a raise in income tax of only 1-3% will make much of a difference to anybody, and it would be selfish not to realize how bad our generation needs this. Even if the money is somehow used for other purposes, at least we know there is always this chunk for the school system.

Prop 30 links/ My bibleography

Actual text: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vig-public-display/110612-general-election/prop-30/prop-30-text.pdf

Argument against Prop 30: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vig-public-display/110612-general-election/prop-30/prop-30-arg-against.pdf

Rebuttal to previous argument: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vig-public-display/110612-general-election/prop-30/prop-30-rebut-arg-against.pdf

Another rebuttal, against prop 30: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vig-public-display/110612-general-election/prop-30/prop-30-rebut-arg-in-favor.pdf

General voter info: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vig-public-display/110612-general-election/


California Attorney General. "Text of Propostition 30" California State Attorney General Office Official      
   Page Online, 2012 Official Proposition 30 Text.

Coupal, Jon. Bogetich, Tom. Boyd, Doug. "Argument Against Proposition 30"  California Secretary of State
   Official Website. July 7, 2012.

RR #1

The “Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education” By Horace Mann, written in 1848, is about the importance of a general education system in America.  In this particular piece ( He has written quite a bit on this subject) he stresses this using three different aspects of education, Physical Education, Education as a means of avoiding poverty, political, and Religious Education.  He believed that with proper education society would learn to create their own existence, and people of all different backgrounds and religions would truly have the same opportunity for success.  He worked to better every aspect of the common school, he wanted the public to get interested and help schools financially to ensure that improvements were made.  He spent many years going to a lot of different schools in America and discovered a few main principles that he believed were most important.

 This was written during a time period where the united states was still growing, and Mann believed that the gap between classes was growing instead of getting smaller like it should be, and believed education was the best way to bridge that gap.  One being that education should be a way to abolish poverty, because if people are ignorant they will continue to work minimum wage because that’s all they know.  I think he thought more educated people would go and create new jobs.  Basically it comes down to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  He wasn’t necessarily a poor man, so I think that caring so much about the welfare of others in society really shows his good character.

Mann thought that school should welcome people of all backgrounds and religions.  He still wanted schools to teach values and morals, but didn’t think that they should be particularly religious.  This is due to the fact that not nearly everyone would agree on the same one, and teaching kids good character is important.  I feel like that if school tried to teach this using religion a lot of kids wouldn’t listen or would think that these values were tied to that idea.

Mann also worked to better the actual school buildings, wanted well trained teachers who were paid enough to be motivated to give a quality education, and a larger more well rounded curriculum.  Mostly he just wanted the people themselves to understand the importance of education and be excited to make it better.  I really like this because before it seemed like school might not have been taken that seriously, and I’m glad that he made way for the future to have a better chance.  A lot of the ideas he came up with are still going on today and he contributed more time and effort than anyone I’ve ever heard of.

op-ed

http://0-search.proquest.com.library.cabrillo.edu/nationalnewscore/docview/1026844585/1390D4832CB5CC95153/8?accountid=39584

Week One

1. I beleive this poem is written in both spanish and english because both languages were a part of the narrarators life. The feeling I got from the peom is that as a kid she struggled with accepting her culture, not because she wasnt proud of it, only because of society and the way people during that time viewed them. In class today we discovered the incident in this poem took place in the late 1950's, a time where mexican americans were subject to racial segregation. Schoolchildren and adults were both discriminated against, and the speaker talks about the girls in class that didnt try and hide their heritage. Teresa seems to be a girl that she remembers for her defiance. She obviously wrote this peice for Teresa, and probably wrote it in spanish to show her respect and to show that shes proud of her people.


2. I feel like in the end she almost regreted trying so hard to fit in with americans, and probably wrote this poem with a new outlook. As a kid she probably didnt see the change coming in the future, and looking back as a young adult she wished she stood up for her poeple instead of trying to hide and quietlly do what they say. She realized now how big of a statement these girls were making and they were never afraid, people like this probably made the biggest contribution to change. She explains, during the fight, that her tactic to defy the system was to prove she could keep up with anyone else, that she wasnt stupid and could do just as well if not better than anyone else at school. I think she has a better understanding of Teresa now, because she realized that they even though there ways of dealing with it were different they both wanted the same thing, to prove everyone wrong. Mexicans were just as important part of american society as anyone else and they still are.



Horace mann
#3-

 Horace Manns View on education with ralation to wealth and povery.

Manns views Education as the most obvious possible way to avoid poverty. He begins with talking about how men are naturally devided into different classes, and points out that most people view it either one way or the other. The first being, that men are either going to have to work hard, and others are there to enjoy what they've already been given. The next is that all men are created equal and have an equal oppurtunity to work and earn. He compares all this to the fuedal time in england, because at that time the extremes in society were very prevelent. He claims that  "What force did then, money does now" , and he strongly beleives that if we spend a lot more time working on the quality of our education system all of this can be avoided. He states that there is no feasable reason that a properly educated intellegent group of people should end up being poor. It just dosnt make any sense, because if everyone is educated they should be able to create there own means of living. They should be creating jobs, thinking of new ideas and not everyone should be depending on what's already available. He names education "The great equalizer of the conditions of men", because if all over the world there is a general education system, then all the people around the world will have the same basic background information, and therefore a reasonably equal chance at success.
   I think all of these ideas make a lot of sense, and I wish that people understood better that the sytem still needs work. I think that is a candidate for school board brought all of this up, people would think that they were stating the obvious. I think it would be hard for people to accept that the way we've been doing things for all these years might not be entirely effective just yet. I think that the general education system, at least reffering to early education, is way too specific. It dosnt leave room for growth, kids are expected to do things a certain way, even if thats not necesarily the way they learn best. I think a lot of the focus should be removed from standardized tests and put toward working with individuals and finding that one thing each person is good at. Kids might have a better chance of finding something they're passionate about if that had more time to do the things they love.


I really want to include this, because I cant possibly say any of this better myself. This is the valadictorian speech of my senior class in highschool, and if anyone has ever struggled in public school I want you to watch this. This speech means so much to me, it made me so proud of each and every individual in my class, and gave me hope for the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8Chftlsg4