It’s that time of year again, the Thanksgiving season quickly followed by the holiday season, Christmas and Hanukkah, where we all tend to get wrapped up in the goings on and festivities. It also provides a nice respite to the tough times we are all experiencing, figuring out how the heck we are going to balance our budgets after a $292 or more per pupil reduction. And trying to figure out how to balance next year’s budget with even less money. But before we get too wrapped up in our own woes, I think now is the appropriate time to sit back and reflect on how fortunate we are.
I remember one of my college professors saying that every day he felt like he won the lottery just being born in the United States. We are one of the richest nations in the world, and we have the freedom to live where we choose, worship as we want, have access to excellent educational systems, and the only barriers we have to becoming all we want to be are the barriers we ourselves put up. We can accomplish just about anything if we put our minds to it and work hard.
Yes, the recent state-aid cuts are devastating, but do you realize that approximately half of the world’s population or just over three billion people live on less than $2.50 per day? Even more astonishing is the fact that 80% of the world’s population live on less than $10 per day. Whereas the poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income, 75% of the world’s income rests with the richest 20%. I think my college professor was right when he said we won the lottery just by being born in the U.S.
At the start of the 21st century, almost one billion people were unable to read a book or sign their name. In 2005, approximately 72 million children in developing countries were not in school. These are problems that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Of course, this doesn’t need to happen. If less than one percent of worldwide military spending was redirected to education, it would be enough to provide a basic education for every child in all the developing countries. This tells us a lot about the misdirected spending priorities of world governments.
According to a report released by The World Bank in 2006, there is a strong correlation between education and poverty. The report stated that people who are poor tend to be less educated than others, and people who are born in poor families have less of an ability to go to school and acquire the necessary education than those not born into poverty. The report went on to say that the quality of education is equally as important as education itself in combating poverty. Otherwise, people who are poor will continue to be poor despite the fact that they have a basic education. The way out of poverty is through quality education.
So what is my point? It is twofold. Studies upon studies have proven that there is a correlation between education and poverty, and we must continue to advocate for more funding for education. Not only do we need more funding, but we need spending reforms as well. No doubt many of you have travelled to Lansing to meet with your legislators to explain to them how the cuts to education will affect the programs in your districts. We must continue our campaign to inform Lansing that education is too important, and that an improper education has long term costs that far exceed the short term consequences. We need adequate resources to be able to offer a quality education to all 1.6 million school children in Michigan.
The second point is let us remember to be thankful for what we do have. We have great jobs in that we have the responsibility and the ability to affect the future of every child that attends our schools. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We have access to the best education system in the world – primary, secondary, and post secondary. We have access to clean drinking water and sanitation systems. We sleep in heated and cooled dwellings with a roof over our heads. We are not starving or malnourished. We have clothes to wear (probably extensive wardrobes), and we drive to work every day. The issues that affect over half of the world’s population, we do not even think about. So take time to appreciate all you have, and appreciate all those around you. Appreciate your family members, co-workers, and colleagues. Take the time over the holidays to rest and rejuvenate. I wish each and every one a healthy and happy holiday season.