Cutting corners, cutting budgets, cutting teachers...at what cost?

It seems that all we ever read about in the news today is cutting cost. No matter what school district you go to, they are all "losing" funds in the MILLIONS. They are closing schools, laying-off teachers, pulling "art" classes from the curriculum, no longer offering sports and extra-curricular activities, changing the school's hours to save on electricity and it goes on ...

Are we teaching kids or running a business? It sounds like the same types of budget-cuts that are happening in businesses across America.

To me it sounds like we have decided to down-size education!

When they cut these costs, how does it effect our childrens' education? Who decided that art/drama/music is not as important as geography, literature, or biology? Where would our society be without people with careers in the arts? Personally, I think it would be quite bleak.

Providing students with extra-curricular sports is an educational experience. Allowing students to participate in sports teaches them to make their own choices, to learn how to schedule their own time, to work with others as a team, and sometimes a chance to learn from their own mistakes. If we take away these after school options, we are taking away more than you think. We eliminate education that happens outside the classroom.

So after we take away the sports and the arts, let's close up the schools so the students can't stay late to receive extra help from teachers or peers. Let's eliminate library resources and science labs. Let's elminate all club activities like National Honor Society, Future Teachers of America, and Future Farmers of America; oh, let's not forget the National Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp. We don't need students joining the clubs to help determine what they want to do after they leave high school. Is it just me, or does this sound down right idiotic?

Taking away from our childrens' education is the worse place to cut costs.

On a side-note, if we don't produce well-rounded, think-for-themselves, adults of the next generation, who is going to make the intelligent decisions to get us out of the next economic crisis? We are having enough trouble trying to figure our way out of one now.