The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Write for Us
Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
Print Issues

The U should not be blamed for lack of minorities

It is not the U’s fault that there is an education gap. Try as it might to put less space between children and a university classroom, it is not the school’s responsibility to do so.The burden of that responsibility lies with the Utah State Legislature. Every scholarship, study and field trip that the U provides to minorities is worthy, but those intentions and efforts are often squandered by legislators who won’t put enough money into educational funding to get students thinking about a college-level education while they are still in grade school. Students have to have determined by a certain point in their education that they will pursue a college-level education, and that determination doesn’t come from the knowledge that a scholarship will be available by the time they are ready to go to college.The determination to further one’s education comes from, among other things, having a good teacher who had a big enough budget to pay for school supplies that give students the tools to succeed in their education. It also comes from schools that receive enough funding to be able to afford hiring enough teachers to prevent the type of overcrowding in classrooms that results in the neglect of student needs.Right now, as evidenced by the disgusting educational gap for people in the ethnic minority in Utah, none of the privileged legislators up on the newly remodeled, “free speech-free” hill give a hoot about the importance of providing proper educational funding in Utah and the implications that funding could have on a child’s future.The U.S. department of education reported that the state of Utah spent $325 less per student in districts with higher ethnic populations, as opposed to the funding of predominantly white districts in the 2000-2001 academic year.It is highly doubtful that those numbers have suddenly improved in the past few years, and to illustrate that they won’t likely improve in the future, the Legislature-in a “special” tax session-recently approved a new tax cut that will put about $45 back into the pockets of each Utah resident.But what the lawmakers forgot to mention while they were giving Utah residents enough money to fill the gas tank of a Honda was that the total sum of money given back could have possibly funded the salaries of about 1,200 new teachers in kindergarten through third grade for a year.Sorry kids, you still have to share your desks and use pencils that have been cut in half and have no erasers because people in power are selfish.No wonder people look at the state of Utah the way they do: We are in no way revolutionary; we just seem to keep regressing and putting people in power who further that regression.Shame on us all.

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