Mon, Feb 16 2004

How Many Principals Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

The upcoming Primary Election here may be overshadowed by the issues of our budget and our debt as a state. Governor Schwarzenegger wants Californians to do some debt consolidation to pay off our existing mess. Former governors tended to ease back on taxes when times looked good, but now we are in dire straits and we are facing budget cuts for the present, as well as a challenge to pay back what we owe (due in part to the dot.com bust of the last few years).

I find it interesting to note that California spends approximately 53 percent of our budget on education. Where does all that money go? I open the door fairly often to kids selling discount cards, candy, magazines and other things to keep the football team, the band and other activities going. I hate to sound off with a "back in my day" kind of speech, but when I went to high school we never heard of such things. We had a car wash and a bake sale to make money for our senior trip, but the school as a whole functioned quite well with everyone working to make it happen. Our principal taught classes when there were no substitute teachers available. Students earned valuable work experience working in the school office and front desk for an hour or two a day. We didn't have 2 vice-principals and assistants for our teachers (except for an occasional student teacher). If the janitor was tied up fixing an emergency leak in a gym shower room, and we needed a light bulb in a classroom, a teacher and a tall student put a new light bulb into place. I'm afraid the biggest thing our kids are currently learning is that "someone else will do it". Indeed, someone else has to do it because a union or an insurance company or a school board said so. We Californians should probably do some heavy homework before we commit to anything down the line in either future budgets or past debt. We have a lot to answer for.

posted at: 07:31 | category: /Politics | link to this entry