http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/03/11/hundreds-of-students-rally-lawmakers-save-our-schools/
This article is from the Des Moines Register and covers the rally of Des Moines area students at the state capitol on March 11th. The article states that roughly 500 students used their day off from school to hold a rally in support of funding education for the arts at the capitol. The students played as loud as they could in the middle of the building and to get the attention of state lawmakers. They demanded that they would not be overlooked, and they weren't. The goal was to persuade lawmakers to give arts education the same amount of money that it has used to grow over the past couple of years. Since the budget cuts are so large and affecting nearly every area of the state budget students, teachers, and parents are banning together to make sure they are not on the chopping block. If funding gets cut the cost for schools to continue educating the arts skyrockets to $70 million dollars annually. No school in the Des Moines area, or the state for that matter, can afford to keep the arts alive at that cost.
I thought the rally was actually really cool. Especially that the students would take their free day to protest, it really shows how important it is to them. What do you think?
I find this article very interesting not only because the students took their day off to protest but also the fact that students took a stand for what they believe in. Many people have the assumption that college students or younger kids have a tendency not to care about what happens in congress however this rally makes it appear otherwise. Student give value to their education and make an effort to make their voices heard. Art programs in colleges are not as well known as engineering, business, and science majors; however, that does not mean that they are less important and should not be given the same financial funding as others. If art programs were given the same funding as business is here at UNI or that the sciences are at IOWA and agriculture is at ISU it would be interesting to see if more students would choose to pursue those degrees at a higher rate than they do now? Funding for a university is used to make an advance in our educational systems. Without looking into the funding that UNI gets and where exactly it goes I would assume that the College of business and the college of education gets a great deal of funding. I don't say that negatively just simply because from my perspective those are the areas that UNI are commonly know for. Rarely when you tell someone you attend UNI do they ask if you are majoring in Psychology or Art for that matter. Most commonly the questions are...Are you an education major? Are you a business major? Seeing as though Education and Business are what UNI is known for and assuming that is where a lot of the funding is going makes perspective students choose and desire those colleges over the Art. Therefore, maybe these students did themselves some good by protesting for funding and a decrease in the budget cuts that they had anticipated receiving.
I think you are right in that many people just assume kids these days just don't care...and I think they assume that for not only with political matters, but just about everything in general. Just like we think older people are all crazy and stuck in their ways.
I've always thought how interesting how much money goes to sports. In highschool I did sports and it was great having the support, but I was also in band and we had a committee that would think of events we could hold to raise money to get stuff and travel places. I think that being able to experience that as a high-schooler really made a difference in me growing up (if that makes sense). Sometimes I wish we could find out what exactly our tuition is paying for. Like how much is going to our teachers, how much is going to different programs...all that kind of in depth stuff.
Thanks for finding this article. Got to love it when kids stand up for what they do and believe in!
Wow that is really awful, I think it's really amazing to know that most state budget cuts hit Schools the hardest. I have come from a pretty broke state, so I know what those kids are doing and are unfortunately looking at in the future. 1/3 taxes of the state of Texas goes to their public school system which does help out a lot, so I am wondering why doesn't Iowa do that. Or why not rais taxes on useless things, like tanning salons or going out to the movies, or make canabis legal and rediculously tax it. That way a huge of that amount can go to those schools. I mean really you would really think that these people in office would listen to statistics saying that arts have improved on keeping children in the schools and encourage them to do academically better than putting them or encouraging them to go out into the streets and start slaning. My sibling and I are proof that arts and sports and schools do help on keeping us focus on our education and expect the best of ourselves, will I hope those people in office do find a way not to cut art programs at schools and the teachers keep their jobs.