Education and Accesibility

Everyone needs to understand that education is a necessary investment for our society. You can't just bitch about the ghettos and people on welfare doing nothing to better themselves when you don't make the avenue for them to do that accessible... that's plain fucking stupid. So if you want to see a more educated, hard...-working, self-reliant society then make education more accessible to those who can't afford it...DUH


Maybe we should ALL stop being so capitalistic and individualistic and think, maybe for one damn second about the GREATER GOOD OF OUR SOCIETY!!! And I don't think that means taking from people that already have so little to give to those a few notches below them... but yes I think that those who are living beyond comfort should be able to give a little (via taxes, or whatever means possible) to those who are struggling to succeed. You can't take the damn money with you when you die fur fuck sake so why not do a little good with it and contribute to the betterment of your society!


They promise grants and scholarships to low-income students but that info rarely ever reaches those already struggling elementary and high school students. And when we do take advantage of those resources, we're still struggling. I know I am! And those who chose not to do anything about it, true affordability is not an issue... but ... We must remember that the mentality that education does not matter, or that there is no means for class mobility is so embedded in so many of their minds... it's hard for them to get passed a life that they see as an inevitable path. I have met so many high school aged students who believe college is not an option for them, they don't have faith in what they can learn cause the curriculum taught to them now has no relevance cause they're worried about just surviving the streets, or taking care of their drug addicted mothers, or abusive fathers, or working an after school job to care for their younger siblings. So even though it may seem that they "chose" not to better themselves through higher education, unfortunately the way their lives are structured makes it impossible for them to even consider it. They are worried about survival and until they have people in their lives to guide them through this confusing and complicated system of college apps and financial aid and to understand the true importance of it, and to just BELIEVE in them, these cycles will continue to be perpetuated. I know that I would have been just another one of those kids had I not been fortunate enough to have teachers who believed in me and showed me the way through this "college" system. I would have just be perceived as one of those kids who "chose" not to get an education and better myself when reality is I didn't have the information to help me succeed or even the thought that instead of struggling to help my family survive I could go to school, invest my time and hopefully come out with prospects of a better life.

If you have no skills how can you get a job? If you have no access to a computer or a car how can you get a job? If your whole life you have been taught that education doesn't matter and that this life is the ONLY life why in the hell would you have any hope? Now let me be clear, I am surely not diminishing people of their own cognitive responsibilities and of the choices they make but it is much easier for us from a heighten position to look down on people and think that they are in their position simply because they are lazy (yes in some cases I am sure that it true) BUT in order to truly understand a person's state of mind we must immerse ourselves in that person's history and understand, not only the way they were either immigrated or forced into this country but also the relations and restrictions that any particular ethnicity has had with the United States.

All I am trying to say is that not all people continue to use government help just because they are lazy fucks. For example, I know many, many students who go to UC Berkeley, who are friends of mine who are on welfare because they cannot survive here at Cal. Also, again, some people do not even know school is an option... that information is never ever even relayed to them... why? Because school systems, teachers, administrators have already given up on these students. They could give a shit about them getting a good job, or getting a higher education. They have already thrown there hands up and been like "they're just gonna be another drug dealer, or welfare baby-maker". When in reality what should be happening is that our school systems should be way more investing in accommodating these students, digging deeper, helping them to find a place in life and to deal with their issues... but no that would be the way more expensive and right thing to do.... and who wants to do any of those things?

Anyway... if California would just understand that if we put more money into our school systems K-college, it would keep better teachers in the classrooms, kids off the street, improved and more relevant curriculums, more accesibilty for under priveledge students and more resources to deal with these types of kids. As a result we would have to put less money into welfare, into our prison systems, into police programs, etc. It makes perfect sense to me I dunno why no one else sees it.

And just a thought.... anyone ever wonder why "underprivileged schools", primarily composed to people of color have higher drop-out rates and lower numbers of people that continue on to college? I guess we could all say, cause I am sure we have all thought it at least once or more in our lives that it's because white people, who are generally "privileged" school care more about education right? Well hmmmmm... it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that some students in underprovided schools don't even have enough books to go around for every student, or that the classrooms are over-crowded and underfunded, or even that maybe the shit they're teaching in the classroom is completely irrelevant in that student's life cause he's more worried about dodgin bullets and helping his mother pay the bills with his part-time job, so he can't even begin to understand how 2y+25=7 could do any damn help in his life. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that these "privileged" schools have greater resources, outside college recruiters visiting schools, and teachers constantly telling them that that’s the way. Do we have that in our slummy fucked up, people of color schools? Fuck no. Teachers aren't telling students that college is the way and explaining to them the endless possibilities for financial aid. Thanks to tracking and the no child left behind act all they have to do is get them to memorize this shit and get them the fuck out... cause really after that, their not their problem.

Side note: And I must add I am sure all teachers do not share this sentiment. I know that there are great teachers out there.... but guess what.... most of them aren't in our "underprivileged schools". Wanna know why? Cause we can't afford to keep em

So as you can see it's a cycle. Kids can't relate in school in K-12, their teachers give up on them... they have to find other means of survival and because they can't find the relevance of education, sometimes they teach their kids the same things. So maybe the problem AGAIN is with our EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS!

Everyone talks about the American Dream or the Horatio Alger Myth (look it up... cause if ya don't know, now ya know) but this is on the pretense that America is an EVEN PLAYING FIELD... which clearly, you would have to be stupid, naive and probably privileged to ever think that America disperses it resources evenly.... hahahahaha is what I gotta say about that! America is NOT an even playing field, all things are NOT accessible to all, opportunity is NOT equal, and some people at the bottom have to over-come a billion things to get to the top. Yea, it happens right? But why do you think those stories are so special and admirable... because they rarely happen!!!!