“Che cosa vuoi con vita?” Imagine that you are a fourteen year old boy or girl growing up in Italy. You have just finished your middle school education and are in the process of transitioning to high school. However, this question that was just asked to you has nothing to do with high school at all. This Italian phrase is the equivalent of this English question: “What do you want to do with your life?” For many young Italians, high school is the starting point of their future careers unlike many high schools in the United States where you just complete a college preparatory program of study. As terrifying as this question might seem to a fourteen year old, many people would argue that these teenagers have not had enough time to make this very important life decision and the quality of students’ knowledge after receiving educations demonstrate this flaw. Even though the Italian Education system is very proactive in having its young pupil’s choose their future career paths, there is a lack …show more content…
This was especially true for Italy when the worldwide recession took place. In 2008, expenditures for public education in Italy only composed of around 6.8 percent of Italy’s total yearly budget (Salerno). As if this wasn’t bad enough, soon after, a cut of eight million euros from public educational funding was established from 2009 until 2012 in Italy. Even though this may not appear to be a huge budget cut for a country, the size of Italy’s public budget is much smaller than the United States federal budget. So, this particular budget cut will have much greater affects in Italy than the United States would have experienced if a similar cut was put into place (Salerno). During the course of 2009 to 2012, over 120,000 teachers were laid off and 750 schools had to be merged with other schools. In addition, 450 high schools also had to be closed due to these financial setbacks
The amount of funding for education was the most difficult to determine. This education system seems to be very inefficient and the huge backlog of teacher pensions restricted the more favorable budget. Well educated students leads to a more productive economy but there are many who do not take ad...
Defense receives the most support and money. Politicians support military spending, mainly because it is “the only form of large-scale public investment that can consistently win political support” (Pollin). However, the heavy support for military spending is counterproductive for our nation’s economy. Since military spending increased in 2001, several industries and programs have had to “bite the bullet.” The Department of Education often gets fewer funds each fiscal year to cover the military budget. Then again, the United States leads all countries in money spent on education. The U.S. education system is well funded, but that statistic is very misleading. If the high cost of college is excluded, the United States ranks slightly above average in education spending (OECD). Per the OECD, U.S. spending is decreasing at a 1% average (OECD). This doesn’t seem like much, but it is still a step in the wrong direction. Only Mexico, Iceland, and Ireland have cut more (OECD). Coincidentally, the percentage of teachers that quit within five years is extremely high at 46% (OECD)! This isn’t surprising considering all teachers in the U.S. work so many hours and are still underpaid. U.S. primary school teachers spend the most time in the classroom amongst all PISA countries
School funding is a recurring issue in the modern era. Debates ranging from give schools more money, to get rid of the system in place and reform a new idea have been plaguing the world over the years. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed in 2009, provided more than $100 billion in education aid to offset budget cuts..” (School Finance). Later, “Congress provided an additional $10 billion in 2010 to avert mass teacher layoffs (Education Week, "Total Recovery Act")” (School Funding). These numbers are just a sample of the struggles in school funding, that is costing a ton of money to keep afloat. “There are many ways schools fund varying from state to state and even school to school. Income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, and other fees provide 48 percent of the elementary and secondary school funds. 44 percent of local districts draw money from local property taxes. The federal government makes up approximately 8 percent of state education budgets. These funds are a dealt out on a per-student basis, and categorically to ensure enough resources for each special program or facility” (School Funding). These funds play a huge role in every student's education, either positive or negative. The three main areas that need to be addressed in the school budget are extracurricular funding, building and equipment maintenance, and last but not least staff funding.
If economists took one thing away from the Great Depression, it should be that losing billions of dollars in a short amount of time causes colossal problems. Everyday in America that is precisely what continues to happen. One day the country will pay for it, but until then, America continues to limp along. The statistics of how much America actually spends could cause even Bill Gates to take a step back. In an article in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, the situation is summed up quite horrifyingly: “The U.S. Census Bureau just released 2008 figures showing the national average total per-pupil funding from all revenue sources was $12,028” (Izumi). The article goes on to calculate that “if one multiplies $12,028 by the roughly 3.7 million students [almost all living in Texas and California] with illegal-immigrant parents, then one gets a national total funding cost of $44.5...
Italy may be one country, but it has many different regions, which are diverse in dialect, and views of the country. (D’Alessandro)Throughout the country there are rarely times of unity and instead hostility is often held between cities. (Sassi) This non-unity could hinder the necessary changes to the infrastructure and transportation services. Another thing that could lead to more economic trouble is the lengthy processes of the courts that cause many criminals to be detained longer than necessary and therefore spend more money on them.
Budget cuts have been a hot topic in today's society, starting back in 2008 with the recession. In the big world of budget cuts and what is being decided on being cut, education always comes up in the first draw. The children of this country are told every single day that they will grow up to be these fantastic forces to be reckoned with, but with the US ranking 17 out of 50 countries educational wise, it is hard to maintain that illusion of perfection. We are in a society of free-thinkers, scholars in training, prodigies, and those who want to become something fantastic so that they can stay afloat in this economy. In todays world, one cannot even get a job at McDonalds without some sort of formal education, or they cannot keep it without a high school diploma or a college degree of some sort. Public education is being sought after more than it was 30 years ago, and the popularity and demanding of a fine education is only going to continue to grow. Cutting the budget on education is not an option, although many politicians seem to believe it is the only choice. Their paychecks are absolutely safe, but the education of those who plan on taking over is in constant jeopardy, never to be looked over when the yearly budget comes out. Budget cuts have greatly affected how our children learn, what they learn, and when they learn; unfortunately although it is decreasing significantly, it does not look like it will vanish, at least not in this generation. The Programs that are being cut are becoming extensive, which causes our youth to be starved of their much needed art programs; with that in mind, the amount of the cuts in which are implemented are absurd which can sometimes cause simply, small communities to reach out for help to save their educationally malnourished children.
In February 2010 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) reported their shockingly large budget deficit which will affect the 2010 / 2011 school year. The decreased state funding, increased salary and benefit costs, and the increase of operational costs for Chicago Public schools leaves a deficit of $700 - $900 millions dollars. This deficit of funds will have drastic affects on teachers including teacher and staff layoffs, school closings, and loss of teacher benefits. More importantly the effects of budgetary issues hits hard on our students’ increase the inequities of especially poor urban schools. These children have nothing to do with poor management of the funds for their basic right of an equal and highly performing education. There are an increased number of dilapidated school buildings, an increased number of charter schools, and a loss of afterschool programs such as music and sport activities, minimal school supplies, no transportat...
The cost for education is a lot more than it used to be. Everyone would think getting an education is easy so you wouldn’t need a minimum wage job, but it isn’t College tuition has gone up and so have private schools and catholic schools. Some private schools are at
affected the economy of America. Education is funded for less learning for students around the
The completion of high school is the beginning of adult life. Entitlement to public education ends, and young people and their families are faced with many options and decisions about the future. The most common choices for the future are pursuing vocational training or further academic education, getting a job, and living independently.
Many people believe that “having an economy that places a greater value on skills and education is a good thing” and that is the thing that is needed to improve people’s lives and futures (Baicker, Lazear). If what our economy is trying to do a good thing they why are so many students still suffering? The main issues are the low-income education that many students have. Many schools are getting money from the government but that is not enough to pay for everything students need. Educational standards have continued to increase throughout the years but that does not help the students who are unable to pay for the better education. These students who cannot pay for the better education are stuck barely getting by with a low education. A low-education can affect many areas of regular schooling. The students who are at low-income schools do not know what type of disadvantage they have compared to other students across the country. These students believe that they are getting the best education, but there are many students who are getting a better education at a school that has the funds to pay for everything their students need. Low-income students are suffering due to the environment they are in at school and they continue to suffer throughout their life due to it. These students will continue to suffer unless something is done about the low-income schools and improve them for the future. Improvement has to come from all areas, not just one aspect of schooling but from all aspects. Although education has improved along with technology many low-income students still suffer from the vast inequalities. These inequalities will take many years to find a way to fix and even more years to actually fix, until this happens the students will...
An education is something that one can keep for a lifetime. Acquiring a good education can affect one’s personal life, one’s community, and one’s entire generation.
Learning occurs when each child is developmentally ready, and this happens at a different pace for each individual child. I experience this daily in my Kindergarten classroom. Although a lot has changed in education over the course of my career, I try to focus on the constant that each of my students can learn on any given day and that I must challenge all of my students to reach his or her potential. This is my school’s motto, and we recite it daily. Education has faced many challenges over the years with politics, the economy, students’ culture, and legal issues. Politics does play a crucial role in education. Different school systems and population areas receive more or less government funding. Educational dollars can play a key role in a school system receiving the latest technology, updated facilities, educational funds for teachers, and curriculum needs. I have been able to experience this for myself by transferring schools from the city to the county school district. The social aspect of learning affects children in different ways also. Different cultures of schools are negatively and positively affected as well. Having taught in an inner-city school for 9 years, I was able to witness firsthand the downfalls and negative effects that come into play for students who come
After twelve years of school, it took me until now to figure out exactly why I had been there all those years. It was not to torture me by making me learn how to spell but to make sure that my classmates and I got the opportunity to make the most of ourselves. Opportunity that would come from learning as much as possible from books and beginning to see that the world focuses on more than just history and English . I owe my success in life and school to teachers who taught me to spell and to be respectful and responsible. Those quick to argue with me say that school's usefulness is shallow: deeper-real-life experiences truly educate a person. School should be seen not only as a place to study, but also as a place to learn about real life. People cannot depend on experience alone for education just as they cannot solely rely on information from school books to prepare them for life. The lessons, whether from a book or not, learned in school transcend the classroom to real life situations.
Education plays a vital role in shaping tomorrows’ leaders. Not only can we become a better nation by acquiring the skills necessary to be productive members of a civilized society. Increase knowledge to actively achieve and meet challenges that can produce changes in which are productive for attaining business innovations, political and economic objectives.