Inequities amplified.Byline: The Register-Guard The figures that Nancy Willard Nancy Willard (born June 26, 1936, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a children's author and poet. In 1982, she received the Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She lives in Poughkeepsie, New York and lectures at Vassar College.[1]. presents in her guest column on the opposite page make a strong case for her view that the Eugene School District's school choice policy has led to far-reaching inequities between alternative and neighborhood schools. This problem has existed for years: The children of families with the most time, money and commitment are concentrated in the alternative schools. Such inequities ought to concern the district, though in any school system some school communities will be better endowed en·dow tr.v. en·dowed, en·dow·ing, en·dows 1. To provide with property, income, or a source of income. 2. a. than others. The inequities are magnified by Oregon's school funding crisis. As detailed by reporter Anne Williams in a May 26 article, parents are conducting fund-raisers in desperate attempts to rescue library services, music instruction, art classes and other pieces of their children's educational programs in the face of next year's budget cuts. Fund-raising efforts Noun 1. fund-raising effort - a campaign to raise money for some cause fund-raising campaign, fund-raising drive crusade, campaign, cause, drive, effort, movement - a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported will inevitably be more successful at schools whose students' families have time, money and commitment - which in Eugene means the alternative schools. The idea that some schools in the same district will have a better basic program than others because of their relative wealth runs counter to the ideals of public education. But people should not lose sight of the real problem. No school community should have to beg for donations to pay for basics such as music or libraries. That the troubling inequities produced by the Eugene district's school choice policy have extended beyond extras and into the core of the educational program is not an indictment indictment (ĭndīt`mənt), in criminal law, formal written accusation naming specific persons and crimes. Persons suspected of crime may be rendered liable to trial by indictment, by presentment, or by information. of any school or of the district, but of a patently inadequate school funding system a system or scheme of finance or revenue by which provision is made for paying the interest or principal of a public debt. See also: Funding . Parents can't be blamed for doing what they can to protect their childrens' interests. The blame lies with a funding system that forces them to do so - and then arouses resentment Resentment is an emotion of anger felt as a result of a real or imagined wrong done. Etymologically from "ressentir", French re-, intensive prefix, and sentir "to feel"; from the latin "sentire". The English word has become synonymous with anger and bitterness. when some are more able to respond than others. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion