Dear everyone with a child in public schools,
Hi there. So the BIG STORY today on the news today was how the largest school district in the state of North Carolina has decided to stop bussing students all over hell and creation, and to start having kids go to the schools in their neighbourhoods. Inconceivable! This controversial decision has parents up in arms, has already triggered protests, and may bring about the collapse of Western civilisation as we know it. If you are reading this, you may be on one side or the other of this polarising issue.
What the news didn’t really cover is why the school board decided to do this. Just in case you weren’t aware, the economy is in the shitter folks. Unemployment is still rising. Folks who are out of work aren’t paying taxes (and can’t.) Without the tax revenues, the school districts don’t have the funds to spend money on busses, drivers’ salaries, gasoline, and maintenance to send kids all over the place, so this decision beats the hell out of firing 10% of the teaching staff. Seems like no one is going to be happy, no matter what is done. But I have a solution that should make things fair for all, save bazillions of dollars over the long-term, and trump every argument from both sides of the fence.
The problem today
While I may be oversimplifying the problem in the name of hyperbole </wink>, as I understand it, there are two sides to this argument, with many complex implications that can have a polarising effect on people who stand on either side. I’m not trying to take sides here, and I may not fully understand one or more of the points. If you think I have something wrong, please leave me a comment. Since the BIG STORY was about bussing, I am going to divide this up on the bussing issue, and try to summarise both sides’ sub-arguments as best I can. Having a kid in the public school system, for whom the bus is now a very real option (she totalled the car!) I am trying to stay neutral.
Pro Bussing
The main reason to bus children to schools other than those closest to their neighbourhoods is to provide a more representative mix of demographics. You can call this integration, or desegregation,or you can talk about how it tries to level the playing field between the haves and the have-nots, but the bottom line is this is supposed to make things fair and even for all children. This is a commendable, though unrealistic goal. If you look at the schools themselves, the newer, and typically more affluent communities, have newer schools. These schools have better infrastructure and newer technologies, and are more desirable. A more positive environment is going to make for a better learning environment. Re-mixing the distribution of kids won’t change that.
Anti Bussing
Many people shop for homes based on the quality of the neighbourhood schools. When we moved here from Florida, we had no preconceived notions about any of the Charlotte metropolitan area communities, so we looked at the school rankings, and chose where we did because the schools were highly rated, and scored well in the EOG tests. We wanted our kids going to the specific schools for the area. Did we have an unfair economic advantage? Perhaps, but I think that is called capitalism.
While we hoped that this would give our kids an edge up on their education, we never considered that they might have to go half way across the county to some other school. Whether they ride a bus, carpool, are taken by their parents, or drive themselves, attending a distant school impacts much more than the regular school day. Social interactions, after school activities, sports and band practices, games, and more are all based out of the school. How many kids would not be able to stay after school for activities if their school was not reasonably close to their homes?
What I think everyone misses is that bussing only helps for normal school hours. It will place kids without chauffeurs, parents who do not work, or kids with their own cars at a severe disadvantage for any after school or extracurricular activities if their schools are remote to their homes.
The solution: central education centres
So let’s advocate the ultimate in equality for all our children. Instead of neighbourhood schools, most of which are too small by the time they open anyway, lets build central education centres! Picture large campuses, strategically located central to the population centres that they will serve. Imagine how, if ALL children attend the SAME school, how much more fair and equal the experience will be for all. This plan can work… just stick with me.
Mega-campuses centrally located
Imagine it, coliseum sized centres for learning strategically located in the very centre of a school district’s borders. I’m envisioning three sided buildings, with one wing for elementary school children, one for middle school, and one for high school. We can’t have the diverse ages mixing too much, so we’ll keep them in separate wings, but we’re still talking one big education centre. Of course, building these large compounds will take time and money, and we want to solve this issue now, so we may have to make do with something else for now. Look around. I bet there is a mall, stadium, coliseum, or defunct industrial centre sitting vacant. Throw up some walls, slap a coat of paint on it, and it should make a fine starting point. If you need a little more room, relocate the hundreds of trailers that are probably scattered around your neighbourhood schools…just make sure to bunch them in threes, and put up some fencing between them. But wait! I’m just getting started.
Safety and security
Here in our area, each school is assigned a law enforcement officer. Called a School Resource Officer, this program ensures police presence in each school, and costs our county alone over $2 million dollars a year. Imagine how much more secure a mega-campus would be, and how much less it would cost overall, to have more officers on campus, but require fewer officers overall.
Bus everyone
It’s the next logical step. According to data compiled by the American School Bus council, which estimates that 52% of school students are bussed, the United States saves over US$ 6 billion per year bussing kids to school. If we bus everyone, we can save another $6 billion, cut down on pollution, and further level the playing field. By bussing all students, we’ll ease the burden on parents, reduce traffic accidents involving high-school students, and make everything fair and equitable for all students.
School uniforms
If we’re doing things in the interest of fairness, we can’t stop with busses. School uniforms for all will ensure that all student look the sae, and feel the same, and will take away the unfair advantage that the fashionistas have over those who can’t afford the latest from Abercrombie and Fitch, or those $150 sneakers from Nike, or the $80 jeans that already look tattered, or whatever the latest style happens to be. Kids who don’t have to worry about complying with the latest trends can concentrate on learning.
I’d love to continue this rant//// I mean, suggest even more ways to improve things and make them fairer. Keep schools going until 1700, have the school year be an actual year, instead of just nine months, maybe look into six or even seven days a week for school….the list goes on. But hey, we can only really deal with just so much fairness before we start the spoil the kids, and we can’t have that can we?
Seriously, if you stop and think about it, bussing students becomes almost a magical solution for so many of society’s ills, it’s almost like magic. And you can’t have magical bussing without a magic bus, now can you?
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Where do you stand on the issue? Leave a comment and let us know.
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