While I usually try to avoid serious topics on this here blog, having spent the past three weeks watching HBO’s The Wire, I feel it’s time I waxed poetic about the seedy underbelly of Baltimore City. As a viewer of The Wire, I am an expert on the matter, no doubt.
Okay, actually, I admit I am no expert, but the show was fantastic. And even though the series ended in 2008, the issues it addressed: problems with inner city schools, social care, drug enforcement, police resources and development processes, newspaper pressures and political jockeying are still widely prevalent. Like the show demonstrates, there are no easy solutions, or maybe solutions even, because there are so many various factors that could impede any sort of progress.
That having been said, I’m still frustrated when I hear about money in school systems. For example, The Chester Upland School district is on the verge of going broke. Any time budget cuts affect schools, I get really upset because I cannot think of anything more important than educating children. What project was so important that it warranted a governor cutting 866 million dollars from the school system budget? State senator Dominic Pileggi said, “I can tell you, there’s no appetite, there’s no appetite to just simply keep sending money without accountability.” What does this even mean? Were they writing blank checks before? Obviously not. But if so – whose fault is that? Is he asking to see some kind of business plan for the school system? Should the students be holding more bake sales? I find this outrageous and I hope his constituents find it unacceptable as well.
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