Money and Learning in Schools

Lack of school funding does not affect a child’s ability to get an education, but it does require students to create their own opportunities for success. Though library books may be falling apart and yellowed by age, if there is a library, one can read. Schools in wealthy areas are given a lot of money by the government and therefore are able to provide students with a plethora of opportunities, such as a band, theater group or swimming team. However, many underprivileged schools do not offer these kinds of activities, simply because they cannot afford them. Though opportunities are often spoon-fed at well-funded schools in wealthy areas, every person, regardless of race, sex, or wealth, can create opportunities for his or herself to learn. The amount of money put into a child’s education does not determine his or her innate human intelligence, and therefore ability to learn.

Though some people believe that in order to get a high paying job you have to have a top dollar education, I will prove that it is a false idea. Considering the case of Malcolm X, who taught himself to read by copying a dictionary in his prison cell, the will to learn seems to be more important than the presentation on the lesson. As long as someone is presented with basic learning tools, such as books, paper and pencils, one can read and write. School funding has to do with the taxes a community pays. The children of people paying higher taxes have better learning benefits from the government. Those that do not pay high taxes in regards to their income do not get as many financial benefits in their education. In this way a student with wealthy parents, is more likely to be presented with better and more educational opportunities. This appears to be a cause and effect situation because you would think that better educational opportunities will result in smarter, more adept students. My conclusion is that this is far from true.

To rise above a low financial situation takes hard work; a student in an underfunded school must create opportunities that are handed to students in wealthier areas. Most people do not have a dying will to learn to read and write and do math and learn to work computers and science and history. This is why I believe that most people that are born into poverty stay in poverty. The government takes money from its tax payers and makes schools a comfortable place to be. They hire qualified teachers; provide clean workspaces, cafeterias and bathrooms; and they keep supplies such as books, desks and computers updated so the children can keep up with our changing and modernizing society. Unfortunately for many schools this is not the case. Uncertified teachers are hired when a school cannot afford to hire certified ones. Schools cannot provide basic supplies for students needs such as toilet paper, which I have experienced in my time at a public high school. Information on noteworthy diseases, historic events, and many other new findings has yet to be available in libraries. I believe that until a person, especially a child, knows the benefits of having an education, and the opportunities it opens up he or she may be resistant to putting in the hard work it would take to receive a quality education.

Children need to be coaxed into some learning by a little entertainment and creativity. For most of us, all we want to do is have fun. But if we realize that learning and fun share the common goal of happiness, we will be more inspired to seek fun opportunities in the future by getting an education now. For instance, in the movie Stand and Deliver, Mr. Escalante is the catalyst that inspires his students, who live in a very poor community and are not expected to rise above their financial situation, to educate themselves. At the beginning of the movie, none of the high school students planned on learning anything in math. There was an agreement between a few people to refuse to take a quiz and multiple students cut class for no reason. At the sound of the bell there was urgency to bolt out of the classroom, as is seen in the scene where someone rigged the bells to ring too early. After Mr. Escalante encouraged the class to learn, by showing them a slight bit of their potential, the students made a sizeable effort to attend class and learn what Mr. Escalante was teaching. After this point, the students went so far as to attend summer classes for long hours in dripping heat. Through Mr. Escalante’s dedication, the students have been persuaded to have a desire to learn.

Often times younger people do not thin ahead to how their present actions will affect their futures. Unfortunately some schools do a less that sufficient job of presenting knowledge of different possibilities for a student’s future, i.e. a broad range of careers or a college education. Though a school may be less than adequate because of a lack of government funding, a person’s ability to learn has to do with their own proactive initiative. To be cliché, their future is in their own hands.