The real problem with our country

Every day about 180 students come into my classroom in attempt to get an education. Some take it seriously and others not so much. However, most of these students have a few things in common. First, most of my students are Hispanic (or Latino, depending on what you consider PC) and most of them are lower income. Although they are lower income and have the desire for the tangible wealth that they see on TV, they really have no idea how to get it. And to be honest, although I feel that the education that I provide them could get them closer to those desires, I'm not sure that what I do is possibly enough. What gets in their way? For some, the lure of drugs or gangs kill that ability to achieve. For others, their parents do not help drive them to something better. Although there are exceptions that truly overcome their surroundings and achieve great success, most of my students will step right into the footsteps that their community has set for them: the life of a lower-income family that lives month-to-month and will continue the cycle of poverty. How can this be possible in America, the land of opportunity? I feel that one of the greatest reasons is that our society keeps that opportunity out of their reach.

A report issued by two liberal think tanks shows that the poorest 20% of American families saw a 19% increase in their income over the last 20 years. Not bad, eh? Well, the top 20% saw an increase of almost 59% over that same period. What does that mean in real numbers? The average income for the bottom 20% is about $17,000 while the average for the top 20% is now over $122,000. That, folks, is bad news to me. My students fall into that category.

The current administration wants to convince us that they can boost the economy by helping out businesses, the middle class, and the upper class. This did not work with Hoover, it certainly did not work with Reagan, and it is failing with Bush II. Conservatives will lose their voice arguing that there is no such thing as trickle-down or that the numbers show that Reagan was successful in improving economic numbers. They'll argue the same for Bush II. This article argues otherwise. Economic benefits do not trickle down. We are in a period of slow economic growth and Bush has crapped away our budget surplus. Look at the profits that Wal-Mart rakes in. Does any of that trickle-down? Hell no. It goes into the pockets of their highest management and definitely not to the workers. Read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed to get a good idea of how much this money trickles down to a Wal-Mart employee. Enough that they can't afford to shop at the store they work at. This is the reality that faces many of my students every day. The numbers may say that we are doing OK, or maybe we're just a little slow right now, but the faces that I see every day say otherwise.

How does this effect my students? We, as teachers, are pressured to make sure that there is "no child left behind," but they are already left behind when the government seeks to spend more money trying to fix a country in the Middle East that, arguably, does not want us there. Our politicians make laws because other rich people pay them to do what they want. Don't believe me? Jack Abramoff. See my post on Jerry Lewis. Where is the poor Mexican lobby? Nowhere. They have no money to lobby with. They don't see themselves on the TV when they see the news. The government is leaving them behind and blaming the schools that they pay almost no money for. In his last State of the Union, Bush bragged about increasing federal spending by $1 billion in one year. Let's see, $90 billion for the war in Iraq, $1 billion for our kids. Some perspective: when I was teaching in Redlands, our district had a budget of around $100 million and there are only 2 high school in the whole district. How far do you think that $1 billion raise went nationally. Thanks for the box of pencils.

Until we as a country realize that all of our citizens are important and not just the rich ones, we will never really be equal, we will never really achieve what we all consider American ideals, and we will never be able to be the true model of freedom that Bush claims that we are. Our representatives our completely out of touch with the majority of the people that live in this country. They claim to support the poor, but they say so from their big houses in the suburbs and from their vacation homes in Aspen, the Hamptons, and Crawford. I want to be honest. I didn't have the silver spoon shoved in my mouth, but a lot of the reason that I was able to do well was because my parents were able to provide me with the physical tools for success. I had a computer, a car, my own room. I didn't need a job when I was in school. When I got a job I didn't have to give it to my parents to help them pay bills. My students don't have the advantages that I had, and until we try and bring some type of economic equality, they never will.

I never really thought that the phrase "the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer" would really apply to my country, but it clearly does and there is something really wrong with that.