Got art, advanced math, foreign language? For how long?

Got art? Got foreign language? For how long?
Got art? Got algebra 2? Got music? Got economics? Got Spanish? Maybe no longer. Speak out today! Dear Friends, Many of you know that Michigan Parents for Schools was founded to work for stable and adequate funding of public education in Michigan. Of course, the reason we care about funding is that it directly affects the quality of the education we can offer to the children of this state. Money alone cannot guarantee an excellent education, but it is impossible to do right by our children and communities if our schools do not have adequate resources. As parents, we know that a quality education is not just memorizing facts, or learning just enough math or vocabulary to get by. The world is changing, and we need our kids to be ready - for citizenship as well as work. A well-rounded education helps children become well-rounded adults. But the ability of our schools to deliver that kind of education is increasingly under threat. Here's the latest: some of our lawmakers want to "improve" our school curriculum by dumbing it down. Several bills are now before the state House Education committee that would relax Michigan's high school graduation requirements. And subjects that aren't required are more likely to be on the chopping block in lean times. According to the sponsors of the first one to be introduced (HB 5451), our students don't need arts education or foreign language training at all, and need fewer math, science and social science classes. Who needs the visual arts or music? What's the point of taking economics or world history? Who needs second-year algebra or other advanced math? What possible use is exposure to a foreign language? Why bother with chemistry or physics? The other bills are less sweeping, but they also cut back the mathematics requirement and potentially eliminate the foreign language requirement. Supposedly, these steps are intended to reduce the "college preparatory emphasis" of the current graduation requirements. True, not every student is going to end up getting a college bachelor's degree. But since when are mathematics, art, languages, music, or science important only to the college-bound? These are subjects that help shape how you think - about your job, the world and even yourself. There are no decent jobs today that don't require you to think, adapt, and solve problems. And there is no democracy which can survive without thoughtful, intelligent citizens. I hope you're as stunned by this as I am, and I ask you to let your State Representative know how you feel. Take action today! This is a time to invest in a richer and rigorous curriculum, not to water it down. We need every child to be ready for the future and the changes it will bring. Steven J Norton Executive Director		On the horizon It's been a tough year for our community-governed public schools. We've seen: huge cuts in funding to education at all levels; more for-profit charter schools that bleed resources from our local districts; more for-profit "cyber" charters that take scripted education to new lows (with even higher profit margins); attacks on the teaching profession - the people who we ask to teach our children; pseudo-scientific evaluation systems that make standardized tests the ultimate judge of a child's education and ignore critical non-school factors; and more. Next up: the "parent trigger." Rather than providing resources to help struggling schools improve, they want to make a pathway for parents to be sold on converting their local public school into a charter, probably run by a for-profit company. This is progress? More on this soon. Join us and sign the petition! MIPFS has joined forces with the Michigan Organizing Collaborative, a grassroots coalition of local community groups working to give a voice to those who traditionally are left out of political debates. The MOC has adopted education funding as their key initiative this year because of the tremendous impacts which investments in education have on our local communities. MIPFS participated in their campaign launch events, and we encourage you to visit their web site and sign the petition. Sign the petition here! More about MOC and their education campaign here.