"And I'm Singleee"

September 28, 2011. The Houston Chronicle had posted an editorial on the shortcomings of the single life, echoing the posting put up by the New York Times almost a week and a half prior to their own. They mentioned some facts regarding the 100 million single Americans in existence living without the benefits of the wedded couples out there. They are taxed differently and left with lesser health benefits. “Policymakers have outmoded views of singles” assuming they don’t count as much in society if they are alone as opposed to combining their efforts with a mate. However, they found statistics actually displaying and backing the usefulness of individuals not bounded by a spouse.

The staff expressed that the numbers they’d drawn up suggested “that the harm foisted upon singles by outdated stereotypes comes at a price that this sleeping giant group will not much longer abide.” The staff itself may be full of single people to make a statement like that. Yet, whether they are all single or not, they are apparently sentimental to the singles out there that do what they can for others only to receive the lesser for themselves. Even though I’m not feeling this condensed New York Times version of an article, I do share their sentiments and hope to see equality for the folks that choose to sleep alone at night.

"Clean up. Clean up. Everybody Everywhere"

        Dripping Springs ISD. One of the few school districts in Texas that I found hasn’t had any “teachers that have been laid off as a result of state budget cuts.” That is quite the surprise. Why? Because in an article I found in the Texas Tribune, it was revealed to me that there has been a $4 billion dollar reduction in educational funding that school districts are presently being subjected to statewide. Now usually when something goes up, it, or something else, must come down and vice versa. Well, funding for education plummeted so to absorb the reduction in money, charges for extracurricular activities have increased. Schools “are dipping into their savings accounts to keep educators employed”. Also, unemployment has increased in the Dripping Springs district for anyone that isn’t an educator, from librarians all the way down to the custodial staff.
          As a result, it is now an additional responsibility of the teachers to clean up behind themselves including sweeping up and throwing out the trash. The cleaning is to be done as soon as school lets out and there are consequences if you don’t get it done. I see no serious problem in that. However, they’ve gone as far as to say you can’t even help a student directly after school because they need to get their chores done. Now that’s not cool. You can read for yourself this article, as well as many others regarding the cuts in education and derive an opinion of your own spanning over their roles and responsibilities. But remember they were hired as educators before they became custodians.