Dear Editor,
When I finished reading about the ETSU Budget Reversion Task Force and their efforts to reduce university budget expenditures, it seemed like these four words reverberated in my mind, “No Child Left Behind.”
While the Bush administration implemented this plan to insure that K-12 students and programs aren’t “left behind,” it seems that they forgot to make sure that college programs could “get ahead.”
What’s the point of making sure that you’re not left behind if no one gives college programs the funds to take you anywhere?
I thought about the infamous economic bailout plan. This week, I watched as prime ministers and presidents from around the world huddled up in the White House and assessed a game plan to repair the global economic crisis. These world leaders met for two days to form ideas to save the world from an economic slump that has taken us years to reach.
The ETSU Task Force has been in deliberation for three weeks. While my school is forced to tighten its belt and eliminate programs, Fortune 500 companies are being “bailed out” with taxpayer money. So far, money has been lent to JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo to purchase distressed assets, such as mortgage-backed securities. How ironic is it that the companies who get paid to handle other peoples’ money can’t manage their own?
How do we inject so much money into these companies and leave our schools empty-handed? Considering the fact that the leaders of these companies have managed to guide them into such massive obliteration, maybe what we need is better-educated leaders. Maybe making education our country’s No. 1 priority is an essential step toward improving our economy. If the government is looking for ways to give out money that they don’t have to give away anyway, here’s an idea -The Valisa Griffin College Fund.
What angers me most is, as if the $700 billion dollar bailout was not enough, over $100 billion dollars worth of pork was fried right on top of it, like the $192 million dollars they gave toward rum production in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. I guess that was a good move. If we keep this up, I predict an unparalleled peak in national alcohol consumption. There is a silver lining yet.
– Valisa Griffin

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