Monday, October 10, 2005
a quick summary
Well, it's been a relatively laid-back two weeks. Mostly we've been focusing on coming up with essential questions and thesis statements, in preparation for writing our big paper. Actually, "big" isn't really the right word- it's only 9 pages, and with research and an interesting topic, that's fairly easy to write. Then again, I haven't been writing well - or motivated - this semester, so maybe I need to be careful not to jinx myself.
I think I'll be focusing on the correlation between school funding and test scores. This interests me for a few reasons, mostly because I'm strongly inclined to pursue justice in areas where I perceive an unfair advantage. Unfortunately, those areas are usually connected somehow to people I know and like (friends of my dad and stepmom, for example) or conflict directly with friends/family in philosophy.
Somehow I have to reconcile all this, but it probably doesn't make any sense without more detail. Complicating matters is the fact that I am a product of the system I now criticize.
So, let me just come out and say it: school funding is categorically unfair. If you defend the practice of funding schools based on property values (or at least, distributing money based on local property values, thereby keeping tax revenue confined to your own school district), you are complicit in an unfair system. Don't harp at me about your hard-earned money; don't tell me that you're taxed unfairly already. I don't care about your perception of the government's tax philosophy.
I used to think this was an implicitly racist system, and I'm willing to bet some data would back that up. I'm thinking now, however, that it's less about overt racism (although some attitudes in suburbia, reflected by those in power, are repugnantly ill-informed) and more about the rich protecting themselves.
Don't get me wrong. I don't blame people for being rich (but I used to). I do blame them for being cold and thoughtless about their wealth.
Now, given my upbringing in an upper middle-class family, I need to stress that A) yes, I'm biting the hand that fed me - almost literally and B) I'm actually fiscally conservative on most issues... with one big exception reserved for school funding.
Okay, I actually need to head to class. More on this later. ¶ 8:45 AM
I think I'll be focusing on the correlation between school funding and test scores. This interests me for a few reasons, mostly because I'm strongly inclined to pursue justice in areas where I perceive an unfair advantage. Unfortunately, those areas are usually connected somehow to people I know and like (friends of my dad and stepmom, for example) or conflict directly with friends/family in philosophy.
Somehow I have to reconcile all this, but it probably doesn't make any sense without more detail. Complicating matters is the fact that I am a product of the system I now criticize.
So, let me just come out and say it: school funding is categorically unfair. If you defend the practice of funding schools based on property values (or at least, distributing money based on local property values, thereby keeping tax revenue confined to your own school district), you are complicit in an unfair system. Don't harp at me about your hard-earned money; don't tell me that you're taxed unfairly already. I don't care about your perception of the government's tax philosophy.
I used to think this was an implicitly racist system, and I'm willing to bet some data would back that up. I'm thinking now, however, that it's less about overt racism (although some attitudes in suburbia, reflected by those in power, are repugnantly ill-informed) and more about the rich protecting themselves.
Don't get me wrong. I don't blame people for being rich (but I used to). I do blame them for being cold and thoughtless about their wealth.
Now, given my upbringing in an upper middle-class family, I need to stress that A) yes, I'm biting the hand that fed me - almost literally and B) I'm actually fiscally conservative on most issues... with one big exception reserved for school funding.
Okay, I actually need to head to class. More on this later. ¶ 8:45 AM
