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education is a right
Throughout the country the right to quality education is under attack. In state after state, the politicians who are bought and paid for by big business are proposing and carrying out dramatic cuts in funds allocated for public education. These cuts are sold as the solution to “budget crises” and inadequate tax revenues. Never mind though the record sums of money being spent on building prisons and that continues to be poured into the military.
Government support for K-12, community college and university level public education has fallen dramatically in our lifetime. Tuitions have skyrocketed as these institutions of education seek to make up the difference by charging students more. As a result it is becoming increasingly difficult for working class youth to afford a college education, and those who do manage to get through school, find themselves straddled with huge debts for years afterwards.
The public schools in America are supplying colleges and universities with plenty of college-ready high school graduates, and today there are more college graduates than there are jobs that require a college degree. Therefore, from the perspective of big business and their political lackeys, money otherwise earmarked for education can be diverted to other areas, like corporate welfare. Increasingly, even the idea of public education is being attacked.
There’s a lot of hype being generated about problems with our schools. Indeed there are many shortcomings in our education system, but they are not reasons to gut or otherwise weaken public education. More, not less resources needed to be directed to education, as well as towards the creation of more jobs. Quality public education was a huge gain that had to be won in struggle by working people. No confidence whatsoever should be placed in the promises and schemes of pro-business politicians, be they Democrats or Republicans, to downsize or dismantle it. We need to challenge their calls for greater allocation of working-class tax-dollars to such things as new prisons, more cops and tax breaks and incentives for corporations. It is these politicians and their policies that are responsible for the crisis in education.
A huge infusion of money into our education system in needed to make quality college-preparatory curriculum programs available to all students at the K-12 level, and to make college accessible to students in low and middle-income households. The decline in educational opportunities for working-class youth, and especially for Black, Latino and Native American youth, will only result in the reinforcement of poverty and despair.
The solution is not to cut back on funding, but to instead move forward to a quality education system that is free and accessible to all from pre-school to graduate school.
Students, teachers, school employees and parents need to come together and mobilize independent of the Democratic and Republican politicians to demand more money and resources for public education, and these resources come from taxing the rich, not working people. And if we don’t see results, we need to up the ante, organize even bigger demonstrations and challenge the very nature of this system which places profit before education and quality of life. Education is a right, not a privilege!
