This may come as a shocking statement, but I strongly believe that education is important. There (as opposed to their/they're) are two things lately that have absolutely ruffled my feathers regarding the education system. The first is about an article I read about how a school in South Dakota is switching to a four day week. They claim to be getting rid of Friday classes to save money. Where is the harm in that? The kids will be free to have an extended weekend each week to think about their future jobs from a lack of a well-rounded education. Please raise your glass to this year's graduating class! May you flip our burgers and pump our gas with fervor until your dying day.
Very little of this has to do with the fact that I had to go to classes Monday through Friday until my third year of college. I may be one of those people who kind of hopes that any future children of mine will get the chicken pox just because I had it, but this is not my reason behind schooling. This school believes that the students will not be any worse off with a four day week. I am not sure how this is going to be possible unless they make the schedule into an 8AM-6PM school day. I remember in high school the amount of information being taught just barely fitting into the school weeks. Why is it becoming such a concern for saving money that schools are being hit this hard? The school system has already gotten rid of many extracurricular activities as well as anything to do with the arts. Why not remove money from other things instead of schools? Surely the world would be just fine without another Nicholas Cage or Twilight movie. Use those millions of dollars wasted to help educate children.
However, my feelings toward education do not stop once high school has ended. As a college student, I watch my pile of debt grow bigger and bigger every time I even think about school. It is a painfully expensive endeavor to go to college for a degree in hopes that it will help you get a job afterward. I am lucky beyond all belief to have parents who take out a parent loan each year that allows me to attend. Every year we fill out the FAFSA it tells us how much my parents are supposed to contribute and how much I will have with my name. The dollar amount is stupidly high for them. Just because my parents make enough money for my family to live comfortably does not mean they have the resources to dish out thousands and thousands of dollars like the government believes (especially with more than one kid in college). If they were to make slightly less money, I would be eligible to receive grants or work study. There is no way I could wish for that. While free money would be fantastic in this case, it would be completely unfair for me to wish for my family to have a harder time supporting four kids.
What frustrates me to no end is this situation with "Steve":
Now Steve is a person who never graduated from high school. He lives in a homeless shelter and has no money. After much coaxing, Steve gets his GED and applies for college. He completes his FAFSA to find out that his loan is tiny and he will be given tons of grant money and work study to attend college. The only reason he decided to go to college was to be near someone he liked. Not to study. Oh no. Just so he could be in the vicinity of a certain female.
So how come the people who don't actually want to go to college to study and learn are able to be given what amounts to a free ride while families with children who want nothing more than to attend college might be unable to due to the fact that their parents can't afford to fork out thousands of dollars? Why should they lose out on this chance because the government decides that just because a family has enough money to live in a house and eat three meals a day doesn't need the extra help for rising school costs? Now I am not saying that people without money should not be able to go to college. I think it is important that everyone who wants an education should be able to have one and fair help should be given to everyone in order to achieve that education.
