Proposal

Title: Proposition Education

Author: Ethan Ahlstrom

Topic: Proposition 30

Exigence: Give every student a chance to educate themselves, not be shut down by obstacles that are simply unbeatable

Intended Audience: Voters, Students, Teachers, Parents

Purpose: Make the reality of our fiscal situation come full circle in the eyes of the reader and see the ramifications of not funding our schools.

Claim: The education system is the key to our future

Writer’s Strategy #1: As a student of a Community College for the past three years my voice carries weight for those that have no knowledge of the effects from budget cuts. Expensive books, crowded classrooms, higher tuition fees and simply not being able to get into classes you want or need to will be a huge factor in how we will be conducting our society in the years to come. Using that knowledge I will expand on what will happen to us students if Proposition 30 does not pass and how that will affect the state as a whole. From 6^th to 8^th grade I was in Great Britain for schooling and was able to get a simple understanding on the basic differences between the English standards of education and the American. In this school I met people from all over the world who came to study, the challenges the average student went through in order to get the grades they wanted and how it prepared them for graduate school and a career is significantly different than what our students go through, I plan to elaborate on how and why.

Readers Effect #1: This personal experience that I have will give the reader a deeper understanding of what we as students face not only in local schools, but internationally as well. Budget cuts are only digging us a deeper whole in a society where students cannot hope to receive the knowledge base and critical thinking skills required to be competitive today.

Writers Strategy #2: The logical reasoning that I will use in my argument will allow the reader to fully understand what the education system is facing financially and how Proposition 30 will help to prevent further harm. The accountability factor is important for prop 30, meaning those that have means to help, should be helping which is why there is going to be an increase to sales tax from 7.25% to 7.5% and an increase to the amount taxable for those receiving over $250,000 and applicable brackets, meaning the top 3% of tax payers are affected. One of the most important pieces of information that needs to be relayed is what the schools themselves are actually losing currently, and what Prop 30 will prevent and even return to the schools and the students. Should the Prop not pass K-12 will face $5.5 billion in cuts and CSU’s will face $250 million in cuts along with a $150 tuition increase. Should the Prop pass there will be $5.6 billion available for schools, public safety and other necessary functions. In the past five years alone Cabrillo College has seen its tuition increase from $24 per unit to $46 per unit along with 400 classes and roughly 95 staff jobs.

Reader’s Effect #2: The logical reasoning that I will use in my argument will allow the reader to fully understand what the education system is facing financially and how Proposition 30 will help to prevent further harm.

Writers Strategy #3: The two most powerful tools that this argument has are the correlation between past, present and future of the education system, business world and culture of California; and the affects these cuts to education will have on our children and therefore the future of our society. School is getting more expensive, children are getting less out of it and adults aren’t given the resources they need to be successful in their careers which is leading to an increase in the amount of jobs available and a drop in the number of Americans capable of doing these jobs. We are competing internationally now more than we have in the past, we are going over-seas for engineers and instructors while the American people see their opportunities diminish due to their lack of education. Ideals have changed in the past few decades, we live in a time where it’s not enough to work hard to reach your goals, you must work hard and have money and you shall succeed. It is a time where the average citizen cannot work part time, while supporting a family or dealing with a disability and still get the education they deserve. Already we are seeing test score dropping in K-12, our SAT’s have hit an all-time low, our students are going into crowded schools with little resources and our teachers are being over worked for not nearly enough pay. These are new problems and require new solutions that must be activated quickly for the future generations.

Reader’s Effect #3: The reader will come to terms with the reality of the changes the California has gone through and how that has affected education and what we are shaping our children to be. They will see how these struggles are affecting everyone and not just themselves and begin to realize how important it is we make the effort now for the sake of our future.