Unfunding the pillar of American society: This crisis threatens to bring down the whole civilization.

Greetings,

  If you want to find out the true situation of nation all you have to do is look at the educational system. Once upon a time America’s educational system was par none excellent. It was the envy of the world with the leading intellectuals globally.

  This is not the case today. There is a deep seated crisis  that continues to plague America, which is systemic. This crisis threatens to bring down the whole civilization.

  Why? It is because It is education that civilizes us. If the system is in peril and faces implosion ,then the entire nation which depends upon the products(enlightened students) that are produced from that system to maintain and progress the society, will soon implode and fall down.

   The American government is confused and has here priorities messed up. She thinks that funding wars and aggressive build ups against others promotes security and progresses the society. This is wrong. The Jesus of 2,000 years ago said it best….charity starts at home, then spreads abroad.

  Without security and funding for education at home, you will not be able to maintain society within your own borders for long, while your focus  is a constant on foreign aggression. This is a recipe of imperial collapse.

  Intelligence demands that we look at the violence, the division between students and their teachers, the rejection of school doctrine, the hikes in fees and tuition, the budget cuts, and the hostile environment being fostered in the seat of learning across America, and then realize that. “The plague of Allah (God) against the educational system of America is something that the philosophers and scientists should look into, as the destruction of America’s education is the destruction of their wisdom to educate the people.

  There are many who look on the destruction without taking a second thought of the destruction without taking a second thought of the destruction of America’s education. “–pg.92(tfoa)

Philadelphia public school system begins classes amid massive budget crisis

By Nick Barrickman
Classes opened for students in the Philadelphia public school system on Monday in the midst of one of the deepest financial crisis the district has ever faced. Earlier this year the cities’ School Reform Commission (SRC), the state-appointed body overseeing the school district, passed a budget that contained a $304 million shortfall, calling into question the future of education in the city.

Schools within the district, one of the largest in the US, are currently operating with severe shortages. All facilities with fewer than 600 students—more than 60 percent of the total—lost the services of full-time guidance counselors, assistant principals and other needed faculty members. “This budget eviscerates…some of the things essential to schools being [called] school,” said SRC board member Joseph Dworetzky at the time of the budget’s unveiling.

In place of full-time staff members, “roving” counselors have been appointed, some tasked with following the activities of more than 3,500 students over several different schools. The same is being done for school nurses, with each nurse now tasked with overseeing the health over 1,500 students.

Arts and sports programs have been restricted to a single semester a year at all schools. Items such as textbooks, paper, and pencils are in short supply. Several schools lacked the means to inform parents of the date classes would even be resuming, due to shortages of postage stamps.

“To be honest, I’m really scared to death,” said Gail Kantor, a teacher at Julia deBurgos School about the atmosphere pervading at this year’s opening. “All of the excitement has been replaced with threats, greed, and uncertainties,” she added.

At the end of the previous school year, Superintendent William Hite, Jr. laid off nearly 4,000 teachers and school staff in anticipation of the current budget shortfall. After threats that the beginning of the school year could be delayed due to lack of funds to run facilities, the district was able to borrow nearly $50 million from the city, enabling the partial rehiring of those teachers laid off.

The budget crisis comes in the wake of the closure of several dozen schools announced by Hite at the end of the previous year. Due to these combined factors, class-sizes have grown, with hundreds of teachers reporting classrooms of over 30, and in some cases 40, students. This is a violation of the contract between teachers and the district, which limits class sizes to 30 students in elementary and 33 in high schools.

The massive influx of students—some estimates placing the number as high as 10,000—entering different schools from last year has raised anxiety and fears about safety. The city has reportedly hired an all-volunteer force of safety-monitors to help escort students to their new destinations.

Hite has sought to preserve the veneer of concern for the plight of students and teachers affected by his policies, saying, “We still want guidance services in every school…. We need a lot more assistant principals. We need a lot more teachers…. We need music the full year. We need sports the full year.” Such comments are meant to paper over the fact that Hite has presided over one of the deepest austerity programs the cities’ education system has ever seen.

Political officials at the state and city level, Democrat and Republican, have seized on the crisis to demand further cuts in spending. Republican Governor Tom Corbett has reportedly obtained several million dollars of potential aid but is choosing to withhold it in order to push for further concessions from city teachers, including pay-cuts of up to 10 percent district-wide.

Negotiations are currently being held between representatives of the school district and both the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators. As much as $100 million is being demanded of teachers by the SRC, along with another $30 million from other city workers….more here

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