Overhauling our Texas Education

I have a number of friends that have decided to go the teaching route as their professional career, which I congratulate them for as I honestly have no patience to be a teacher, but I also am quite sad that they have done so considering the treatment our teachers and Texas schools in general receive. The pay is quite low considering what each teacher goes through, especially our brave middle and high school teachers (Let's face it, kids are scary!). Our classes within each public school are generally 30 + students per one teacher and the curriculum is just plain lacking. That's not even the bulk of the troubles! Honestly, if I were to list the many problems our educational system has these days, this particular article will be... never-ending. Overall, our Texas leader need to make a serious adjustment to the way our educational system works as a whole.

Do you know that Texas ranks dead last in the percentage of residents who have a diploma? Or how about the fact that we're near last in SAT scores? This can't be coincidental! Our schools don't have the funds to purchase the necessary materials to education the growing children. Textbooks have to be shared or paid out of their own pocket. Extracurricular activities are cut short due to budget restraints. Quite honestly classes just aren't that engaging enough to keep the students interested and ultimately learning. There's got to be something done to educate Texas' children right!

I know there is much talk of increasing our Texas education funding but I would like to see how much good that would be at this point. I don't think they should just increase the money given but rather take a real look at the whole system in general. Are we teaching the kids the proper information necessary to get them to succeed? Is the curriculum up to par compared to the other states? I just don't know! I think I would have to agree whole heartily with Patricia Montgomery, the Superintendent of Angelton ISD who was interviewed by FOX Houston. While yes, extra funding is great news, but:

"We know that even that money isn't sufficient to meet the needs that we have right now."

Texas has ultimately dug a much bigger hole than they can crawl out of with a single budget increase. They need to think of the children's well-being and what is needed to get them to succeed in the future. They are, after all, growing up to be the adults that will take care of us in the future!

Texas Equality

I read a good number of articles from the suggested sources available and had the most difficult time finding an article I had any interest in. However, after about an hour browsing the many sites, I came across the blog "Off the Kuff" by Charles Kuffner and his article "The Equality 2013 Poll." 

The article summarizes the changes in society's view towards particular controversial topics suggested within a random poll commissioned by the Equality Texas Foundation. What surprises me, especially living within such a Republican/Conservative state such as Texas, is the the large increase in support towards same sex marriage. I whole-heartily support anyone who chooses to get married out of love, regardless if the couple is male/female, two females, or even two males. However, I did not think the Texas population, being how conservative of a state we are in general, was close to having such a majority vote in regards to same sex marriage. Maybe I'm just keeping Texas in a stereotypical mindset in regards to this particular topic, but I'm certainly glad to see such changes. 

The largest increase in support came among Texas voters who now support allowing lesbians and gays to get married. By a margin of 47.9% to 47.5%, a very minor plurality, Texas voters now support the freedom to marry. This percentage represents an increase of 5.2% in support since September, 2010.  Support for the freedom to marry increased by 11.3% among Independents, increased by 15.7% among African Americans, increased by 14.3% among 18-29 year olds, and increased by 11.1% among those over age 65.

Personally I don't think its anyone's business on who gets married to whom, but that's just me!  Thank you for bringing this to our view Mr. Kuffner. I truly appreciate being able to see the differences in how people view certain topics as years go by. Change is good (To a certain extent of course!). 

If you are interested in further tidbits in regards to the Equality Texas Poll, you may want to check out the Equality Texas Foundation's homepage: http://www.equalitytexas.org/. It has great bits of information in regards to the random sample polling and past results.