Our visit to Bread for the City was one of my favorite labs so far. Poverty is something that I see very little of in my day-to-day life, so when I encounter it first hand it impacts me more than it probably affects a person who encounters it every day. To me it is incomprehensible that we, in one of the richest countries in the world, could allow our own citizens to live without adequate food or shelter. The worst part of it is that many or our homeless are veterans, people who have served our country and who our country has let down. To quote tupac, “You know it's funny when it rains it pours/They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor/Say there ain't no hope for the youth and the truth is/it ain't no hope for the future”
Which leads me into what I actually wanted to talk about: education. During our visit to the Anacostia Museum we had the opportunity to hear about the inequalities of the education system from a first person source. There is no argument that poor education contributes to poverty, so why aren’t we doing more to improve the education system in poorer communities like Anacostia? I know that there are a variety of programs dedicated to improving education in poorer communities, but it shouldn’t be the responsibility of non-profits and volunteers. Mayor Fenty took direct control over the public school system in an attempt to improve D.C.’s public schools, but I am not sure to what extent the changes being made will even the playing field. America is supposed to be a place where everyone has the opportunity to rise above circumstances and make a life for him or herself. However, our government, which should ensure that everyone has an opportunity, actually hinders opportunity by creating a system that is impossible to beat.
I've been thinking about this, and I would specifically like to ask Jasmine for her input because she talks a lot about personal freedoms and the effect large government can have on these freedoms. Can’t the expansion of government, when done correctly, allow for more freedoms? I guess what it boils down to is that there is more than one type of freedom. Is it more important for an individual to be able to decide how to spend his or her money, or should the government decide for us in order to give people more freedom within society?
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3 comments:
When it comes to issues like the treatment of veterans and poor public education, I don't think it's an issue of government spending, but one of accountability and organization. The solution is not in spending more money. True, this may be helpful, but only if the money is being used wisely. And unfortunately a lot of government institutions are not so effective. My parents are both public school teachers, and believe me the system is rife with corruption and disarray- on a local, state and national level.
So instead of asking "should I be giving more money to the government for public schools," maybe we should be asking "how can we streamline and reform public schools so that they can better serve the community?"
p.s. this is an interesting blog post about DC schools/Obama from Ian (lives on L4):
http://thefreeturkey.com/2008/11/10/public-education-for-all-except-for-barack-obamas-children/
yes, i agree with your comment on reforming public schools, but whats with that link you sent me? I comment more on it here http://thefreeturkey.com/2008/11/10/public-education-for-all-except-for-barack-obamas-children/#comment-57
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