Economic Justice

Last week the class focussed on defining economic justice. Jillian asked us about what it meant to us, and later provided a definition. We watched "From First to Worst" highlighting California's public schools, listened to Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", and learned about Jillian's case study of english learners.

What really stood out for me was the school systems. I have been in public school since the fourth grade and suddenly feel very fortunate. Both the Michigan and Idaho districts I belonged to provided me and my peers with plenty of tools to succeed. Disturbed by the 6 or 8 thousand dollar budget per student in California, I was moved to see what was spent on me during my time in primary schools. In Gaylord Michigan, $7,988 per student is what is spent. In the Wood River Valley the price is $14,406 per student. That is a drastic difference from the California system. I feel that my high school education was incredible and see how important that funding truly is now. In class I brought up the lack of spending now creates are larger price tag later in the sense that we become semi responsible for the uneducated, homeless and poor through tax funded programs. This was also confirmed in the statistic of state funding in prisons spending $27,000 per prisoner vs. $6,000 per student in the public school system.