Proposal

Title: Vote Proposition 30

Author: Genevieve Vandeutekom

Date: 9/29/12

Analysis of argument: I am for Proposition 30 because I want to continue my education and think other people deserve the same.

Exigence: This action is important immediately because if not schools will suffer with even more budget cuts this year.

Intended audience: Voters

Purpose: To convince voters to votes yes on proposition 30

Claim: I have the right as a student to give my input on this issue and argue for or against it.

            The logical reasoning I will use to defend proposition 30 is by first informing my audience what it is. To inform my audience I will reveal the pros and the cons so that they can have a clear view of the bigger picture. With out proposition 30 schools and colleges both will suffer more than they already have, facing an additional $6 billion in budget cuts. Proposition 30 can help California by balancing our budget and pay for schools and the safety in schools. If you think about it, if there is more money for education the economy will do better because more people can graduate and get jobs, and have money and people will be able to have an equal opportunity. Couples making less than $250,000 a year won’t have to pay the tax increase that will take place for the next seven years if it passes.

            In opposition, there is really no guarantee in the way that the proposition is written that the money that comes from these tax increases will go to schools. And really the government is just threatening us by saying to vote for this proposition or they will take it out on our school systems.

            I feel as a writer I am credible because I am currently a student at a community college that would be affected if this proposition doesn’t pass. Why would I want proposition 30 to pass if it wasn’t going to benefit my education? Already at Cabrillo College there has been $400 in classes cut in just the past couple of years. Course offerings have also been cut by about 10%. Even tutoring hours to help students and staff jobs have been cut tremendously as well which doesn’t just affect students but teachers as well.

            Personally, in the situation that I am in, and I’m sure there are many other students in this position, if the Community Colleges shut down or I couldn’t get into the classes that I needed, I wouldn’t have a future. My family doesn’t have money to help me out with school, especially if I was going to go to a UC. If position 30 doesn’t pass class sizes may decrease even more and I won’t be able to get into the classes I need to graduate. My hopes and dreams of become a professional and having a steady job and income will be crushed. I will have to work part time jobs making minimum wage while people who are making over $250,000 a year aren’t willing to pay a tax increase to help out poor college students like me trying to go somewhere in life. 

           Although the people who are against proposition 30 make some compelling arguments, i believe that these people are the ones who are going to be affected by the tax increase, because who wouldn't want to try and help our school systems? And if the government was just threatening us i think more people would be aware of this hidden message and be against it, but seeing as the majority of the people are for proposition 30 i think that is a myth.

annotaed bibliography

"California Proposition 30, Sales and Income Tax Increase (2012)." Error. Ballot Pedia, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_30,_Sales_and_Income_Tax_Increase_%282012%29>.

     On this website concerning proposition 30, there were a lot of facts to inform the readers of what proposition 30 will do for us. First off it will increase sales taxes from 7.25% to 7.5%. It will also increase taxes on people whose earnings are over $250,000, which will be in effect for the next seven years. The amount that these people get taxed on will depend on what there wages are. For example a person making $250,000 a year to $300,000 will have a 10.3% tax rate, while as a person making $500,000 to $1,000,000 a year will have a $12.3% tax rate. This would go into affect for this past year since January 2012 if the law passes this November. The estimate profit that proposition 30 will accumulate is $9 billion. The supporters of proposition 30 are Jerry Brown, League of women voters of California, California Democratic party, California Teachers Association, California State Council of service employes, California School employes association, American Federation of teachers, and California Federation of teachers.

"A Strong Economy for the next Generation." YES on 30. California Teachers Association, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.yesonprop30.com/>.

    This website has a lot of ways to get involved in proposition 30, but also some key important factors in support of proposition 30. According to this site California has had over $20 billion in budget cuts and in order for there not to be $6 billion more this year, Proposition 30 needs to pass. Also Proposition 30 will provide more safety in our funding and keep the cops on the streets, which will decrease the amount spent on prisoners. "We can’t keep cutting our schools and still keep the economy strong for the next generation". This is a message that shows us what will happen if we don't vote on proposition 30. To insure that this money will only be used for education purposes, the profits will go into an account that even the legislature can't get a hold of. The money in the account will be subject to an independent audit each year, and will be open for the public to view so that they can be assured where there money is being used.

"Stop Prop 30." Stop Prop 30. Howard Arvis Taxpayers Association, 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.stopprop30.com/>.

   This site argues that Proposition 30 will be bad for Californians. It says that there is no guarantee in the way it is written that proposition 30 will use the money towards education. It also increases taxes to almost $50 billion a year. It may even make the economy worse, by killing small businesses and creating less jobs. Basically this site believes that the government is trying to trick us and threaten us by bringing our schools into the picture. 

Reynolds, Mark. "Unfiltered Political News. For You. By You." Independent Voter Network. IVN, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://ivn.us/2012/09/10/proposition-30-wont-fix-california-budget-issues/>.

   According to Mark Reynolds, Proposition  "California has the second lowest credit rating in the union..." He questions why are we trying to cause more budget problems instead of fixing the ones we already have? Politicians would rather raise taxes instead of streaming state funded programs. He also makes a point saying that while its a good idea to raise taxes for education, as voters we didn't get to choose weather we wanted to pay $4 billion a year on prisons. He also makes a good point, saying that this is a serious matter that should be in the hands of politicians that we voted for and if we don't like the choices that they are making then we don't have to re-elect them.

Against School by John Taylor Gatto

      In this story called Against School, written by John Taylor Gatto, he compares school to the concept of boredom. "Do we really need school?"(149) He also explores this concept of the question if school is really as necessary as we make it. Gatto expresses how that students and teachers are both bored because students are being taught information that they already know, while teachers are bored because they feel that the students have bad attitudes and don't want to learn but just want good grades. The author tells us his own experience as a student and as a school teacher and felt the same way until his grandpa taught him when he was young that bored is a bad word and that he shouldn't use it because every person in the world can only blame themselves for being bored, and you can't count on other people to make things interesting for you. The author explains that he isn't against education but the school system. He doesn't believe in the five day a week and  long hours of class time system that we have. Gatto also goes on to tell about Alexander Inglis's breaking down "the actual purpose"(152) of schooling into six different functions. These functions are the adjustive or adaptive function, the integrating function, the diagnostic and directive function, the differentiating function, the selective function, and the propaedeutic function. The ideas of these functions include not teaching the students interesting things because "..you cant test for reflective obedience.."(152), to make students similar in as many ways as they can, determine the social role of each individual, leading students in the direction that they can succeed in (not any higher than that), to punish the students who don't succeed so that others can see and not follow in that direction to "wash the dirt down the drain"(153), and to train a portion of the students to learn to "watch over and control a population deliberately.."(153).
     I personally would have to disagree with the statement that we really don't need to go to school. I'm going to use ethos to tell you why this statement isn't true. Quite certainly My mom or dad would not have had the time to home school me as they were both working and going to school. If there wasn't a public school system they wouldn't have been able to afford for me and my sister to attend a public school and i wouldn't have received the education that has made me the person that I am today. I do see the authors side of the argument of how people who are home schooled have gone just as far and learned as much and probably more in a less amount of time than the average person who attends a public school. Although on the other hand i think school is not only important for education, but also for street smarts. If i had not attended school, i know i would be a lot more sheltered and not know all the socially important things that i learned from being around hundreds of people. Overall, i can say that the public school system is important mentally, socially, and physically. A lot of children, including myself would not received what they did at their schools at home.
    The purpose of Gatto's essay was to put this question in our mind of the concept, Is school important? Although he is making points about school being unnecessary or not as important as we make it , i believe his view is actually for schools. Gatto explains his different views on education and school systems, but that doesn't mean that he completely disagrees with the idea of school altogether. He says "We suppress our genius only because we haven't yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women"(155). This means that as a society we shut down our intelligence and creativity body of people because our system doesn't run correctly as it should.

Para Teresa

      I can think of several reasons that "Para Teresa" is written both in English and Spanish. First of al it proves that the narrator has a lot of education now that she can fluently write in both English and Spanish and that just because she is smart and educated now, she hasn't lost touch of her culture. In this poem the narrator says "I did nothing for the teachers. I studied for my parents and grandparents."(208) The narrator explains her how she was not doing well in school to impress her teachers, but to make her family proud. This concept also relates to her writing the poem in both English and Spanish. First off because it shows that her family is Hispanic and not all of them can all necessarily read English or Spanish, so she wants all of them to be able to read the poem. Secondly, she is proud of her culture, so she is incorporating it into a poem that means a lot to her and where she is now because or her family pushing her to do good in school. Furthermore, another reason I can see that this poem is written both in English and Spanish is to show Teresa, the person who tried to knock her down, that she succeed and that all the bullshit she didn't give into got her a lot further in life than if she ha stooped down to Teresa's level. The narrator says, "I who-did-not-know-how-to-fight was no to engage with you-who-grew-up-fighting."(209) The narrator could have not stood up for herself and been too scared of Teresa, and never would have accomplished her dreams and goals. Or she could have fought back and got suspended because Teresa obviously had more witnesses then the narrator would have had. The final reason that i can think of that this poem is written in both English and Spanish is to teach more people this message. The narrator wants to teach everyone that she can that it is better  to be educated than not to and not to follow others footsteps because you are scared of them or are trying to fit in with them. If this happened to you don't you want to rise above that person and succeed in life? I know that i would.
        I believe that the narrator writes this poem as an adult rather than when she was in school because now she is more educated and knows what she is talking about. She can look back on that day and really know exactly what happened. I believe that she reflected and wrote about this experience because she was terrified back at her elementary school, but this moment really has defined who she is today. The narrator says "But now in 1975, when I am twenty-eight Teresa I remember you."(209) This memory scared in the narrators brain, which is evident because she can re call every detail of the experience that many years later. The narrator understands Teresa now because she has been educated and she knows that Teresa wasn't learning because she didn't want to and she probably isn't where the narrator is today. She forgives Teresa though because Teresa didn't hold the narrator back from her goals.

Prop 30

http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2012/08/gov-brown-says-prop-30-taxes-are-all-about-schools-not-so/

I am a student at Cabrillo College and a waitress at a resturant on the Santa Cruz wharf called Miramar Fish Grotto. I am a twenty year old girl who can be very serious at times but loves to have fun and laugh. I am smart, silly, sometimes crazy, but loves to meet new people and learn new things. I feel like i can bring some useful gifts to this English class. For instance, I always get a job done, even if the task is harder than i have encountered before. Even on my bad days i try and stick with a positive attitude. I will always show up to class and i am always honest. If i make a mistake i will be the first to admit it.