Trillions for wars, billions in tax breaks for corporations and millionaires but ‘bupkas’ for education of our nation’s children
EducationJul 18, 2011From: Larry Miller’s blog Larry Miller’s Blog
Our Broken Escalator
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: July 16, 2011 NY Times
THE United States supports schools in Afghanistan because we know that education is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to build a country.
Alas, we’ve forgotten that lesson at home. All across America, school budgets are being cut, teachers laid off and education programs dismantled.
My beloved old high school in Yamhill, Ore. — a plain brick building that was my rocket ship — is emblematic of that trend. There were only 167 school days in the last school year here (180 was typical until the recession hit), and the staff has been reduced by 9 percent over five years.
This school was where I embraced sports, became a journalist, encountered intellectual worlds, and got in trouble. These days, the 430 students still