That said, with the long list of customers and government offices that owe CUC for utilities, WHY on earth would they choose to start with the KIDS? Why did they choose to start by stealing a day of education from our youth? It just doesn't make sense to me, when our government always claims that the education of our children is a very high priority. If it were such a high priority, why would CUC choose to cut off power to the schools, interrupting the education of our youth?
I'm really tired of the government always giving students the short end of the stick. Every year at election time, we always hear the politicians spout off about how important education is to them, only to have the very same people place education as the first thing they attack when the government comes up short on money. I don't know about you all, but I'm tired of this game. So tired, in fact, that I took a trip up to Sacramento on Sunday to get ready for a state-wide protest and rally. The rally took place at the Capitol Building on Monday, and I joined thousands of students from all over the state of California as we converged on the Capitol and protested against all the attacks on our education. It was an awe-inspiring show of student power. Thousands of people from all over the state and from different walks of life all came together and united because "When education is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!"
It really upset me that I was on a bus heading home to LA after the protest and finding out that while I was fighting for our education here in California, the education back home in the CNMI was under attack, and this time the kids in primary and secondary education were the victims. Shame on you, Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, for not valuing the education of our children. I'm sure the children enjoy having the day off, but perhaps they just don't quite realize yet how important every single day of education is. I am hoping that it won't take the cutting of hundreds of classes and the firing of dozens of faculty when they're in college, before they realize that education is a very serious matter and every second of it should be cherished.
College students, don't just sit there and scratch your head when your SHEFA money and CNMI Scholarship money doesn't get to you on time! Take a stand for once and demand that you get your financial aid on time! Being a college student myself, I know how much is set off course when financial aid doesn't come in on time. The most important tool used in classes these days is the textbook, and with the ever-increasing cost of textbooks these days, we can hardly afford to buy them WITH the financial aid money that we get. When financial aid doesn't get to you on time, you are at a very high risk of falling behind in your classes because you can't afford the textbook that your course is being taught with. Is that right? Hell no! Why should students have to suffer because our government doesn't know how to spend within its means?
Insufficient funds for SHEFA? GET MAD!!! CNMI Scholarship money delayed? GET MAD!!! The government continues to get away with marginalizing our education because they depend on you NOT saying or doing anything about it. "Oh, that's just the way it is," they want you to think. But NO! That's NOT the way it's supposed to be! It's been happening for so long that you all believe that's the way it is, but it's not supposed to be like that! If they TRULY cared about your education, do you think your financial aid would be delayed with the reasoning that "there's simply no money for it?" HELL NO! If they really cared about your education, they would know how to spend within their means, how to NOT throw away money on wasteful expenditures, and how to ENSURE that there is ALWAYS enough money for the financial aid programs in the CNMI. But has any of this happened? NO. Why? Because none of you have ever said or done anything about it, and that's exactly what they depend on.
The only way they keep getting away with attacking our education is with OUR consent. By remaining silent about the things they pull off, we are, in effect, giving our silent consent to it. SO the next time you see that your checks aren't arriving on time, GET MAD! Organize a protest or rally about it and demand that your education be a priority in their budget! Our education should be a TOP priority because WE are the leaders of tomorrow!
"All I know is that first, you've got to get mad! You've got to say, I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value! ...I'm as mad as hell, and I'm NOT going to take this anymore!" - Howard Beale, Network
No comments:
Post a Comment