Quote Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion View Post
If there is one thing that should not be skimped on in budgeting, it's education; but it is, every single year.
I agree. But there are some serious flaws in our education system and how we approach things that throwing money at won't fix.

First is the lack of participation and active engagement of parents. Parents just don't seem to take much interest in their kids education. Many don't know their kid's teachers, don't know what the kids are learning, don't discuss what the kids are doing with them. It also seems in my experience that parents tend to blame teachers and not themselves and their kids. Several of my friends are teachers and the stories they tell of parents blaming them for their kid's failures while ignoring that the kid hasn't turned in any homework, doesn't come to tutoring, and flunks all his tests. That and parents and kids are too quick to settle for mediocrity. They just settle for passing instead of putting in extra effort and going for that B or A. And the parents just accept it.

The other thing I think is that money is mismanaged; especially towards sports. I grew up in TX where football is king and the HS I went to was a big time 5A powerhouse at the time. Every other year the football team got brand new astroturf in the stadium. All of my AP classes we didn't have textbooks. We got photocopies from the lone teacher edition that our teachers had. When my parents brought this up at a school board meeting they were told that there wasn't enough money to buy textbooks for the higher level classes and that the money had to be spent elsewhere. When they mentioned the astroturf they were told that it represented a sense of pride for the football team and was a necessary expense. They were shocked that pleasing football players was more important than providing textbooks for learning.

This isn't a knock against sports. They're very important and play a significant role. But they shouldn't trump education and learning IMO.

Sorry for the rant. But the insane money spent on sports and the increasing laxidasical attitude of parents towards their kids education makes me nuts!!