Welcome to Rangoon, California

Dr. Barry Starr Post on Feb 16, 2010 by
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Too fancy for some California schools.

As part of an HHMI-funded initiative, I do some outreach to a high school in a poorer part of San Jose. Basically a bunch of us run some hands on genetics experiments to try to get the kids to see how fun science really is. Hopefully this will get a few excited enough to want to learn more on their own and maybe one or two will even want to become scientists themselves.

Going to this high school has been an eye-opening experience. You don’t really appreciate how much California (and by extension Californians) have given up on equal education until you spend some time in a poorer district.

Most voters probably don’t have a sense of how resource-starved these schools can be. Yes, we hear all the time about the cuts in the education budget and the adverse effects they are having on schools. And the school districts where most of us live have gone a bit downhill in the last few years but most of us are satisfied enough with our schools. If we’re not, we send our kids off to private schools where, in the eighth grade, they can test whether foods are genetically modified or not (I kid you not).

But to understand how bad it really is, visit one of the nearby poorer schools. For example, last semester, the school I go to ran out of paper and had no money to buy more. No, really…they had no paper.

Kids were taking tests on left over Post-It notes (because there seemed to be some of these still around). And they weren’t getting worksheets or anything else like that. I have to say I was stunned when I heard this and so is everyone I tell this story to. Where do we live, Bangladesh? Malawi?

This becomes even more upsetting when you consider where we are. The valley has taken a hit from the recession but plenty of people still send their kids to schools in Los Altos, Palo Alto, Hillsborough etc. There still seems to be a lot of money rolling around in the system.

Luckily a bit of the money rolled over to the school that ran out of paper. After a week the school district found additional funds to keep buying paper. So the kids only had to endure this for a single week but I am sure they will never forget what happened.

And I worry even more about next year. Everything I have heard is that there will be additional cuts to the education budget next year. Are they going to shut off the power next? Or maybe they’ll just give the kids sticks so they can take their tests on the ground in the courtyard.

Unfortunately I have no idea what to do about this. I would think more money would be good but that’s not going to happen. Any ideas?

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  • Mrs. Hunau's 3rd period

    Several of my high school science students suggested that some school districts seem to have an excess of funds and they should share with districts that have less money for basic supplies like paper. A majority of my students agreed with this idea.

    A foreign exchange student from Germany feels that our school districts spend too much on "extras" like multiple offerings for PE classes such as yoga, tennis, and baseball. In Germany no such classes were offered to her. My students disagreed that those are extras and if the district can afford it they should offer an assortment of opportunites.

    One student thought it would be neat to try to do without paper. I don't think I have the courage!

  • Mrs. Hunau's 6th period

    My 6th period science students felt the same way as Dr. Starr. They also didn't know what to do. Our high school has enough for basic supplies and our students collect school supplies for our sister school in Oakland. They suggested wealthier districts organize paper drives for schools that do not have funds for basic supplies.

  • http://www.thetech.org/genetics/index.php Barry Starr

    I am glad to see that this blog is fostering some discussion on the subject. It sounds to me like the students are trying to find non-governmental ways to make school spending more equitable (shifting excess funds, sister schools, etc.). Given our current legislature, this may be the best hope for kids in poorer school districts.

  • Madison Cronin

    Hello my name is Madison and I am a Junior at Dougherty Valley high school. I am lucky to be able ot go to a school that has money to spend on sports fields and paper. But i feel that we take these things for granted. I play softball and i find that we really dont need four softball/baseball fields. If we spent more money on helping other schools out, it would make me and others feel better. I find that people at my school take the most simple things like paper for granted. If schools like mine saw what others schools went through, then maybe we would be more grateful in the fact that we wouldnt waste paper.

  • John Fiorentino

    The Governator may try balancing his bloated budget somewhere other than on the backs of the poor.

    My deepest regrets go out to these students and teachers who must try and muddle through without even adequate basic supplies, while some districts are awash in funds for excessive "extras."

    We are facing much of the same problems in NJ, where our newly elected "fuhrer" Gov. Christie has overstepped his authority by executive order.

    One of Christie's first targets was the NJ Dept. of the Public Advocate – "The Voice of the People" – the good Governor has already set out to silence that voice with a stroke of the pen.

    But that's ok I suppose, at least it's ok to a state government which believes it makes good sense to expend over $200,000,000 a year just to collect tolls on our two major toll roads. (That's right, two hundred million dollars)

    And of course let's leave the unions and our bloated state pension system alone – that's politically expedient.

    The poor?………."Let them eat cake."