Connor Philpot

English 2010

Flash Memoir

When I was a kid in Elementary school, we had this game that used small push carts you
would sit on and move with your feet. These were given to the school when it opened in 1996,
and were still being used by kids such as myself in 2007. They were crusty and the wheels
would squeak and spin, many times kids would run over their own hands. When we would play
dodgeball, there were always these balls that had massive holes in them, some were even
leaking air. The school refused to buy new ones, and the teachers would just patch it up with
duct tape. In hindsight those balls were the better ones to get hit by, since they were so
deflated. I remember things like this with vivid memory. I remember asking myself why we
couldn’t just get new equipment, and why every time something new was introduced to the
school it was a big deal. Gym equipment wasn’t the only thing either. The older I got the more I
realized how little the public education system had to use for itself. According to the Hechinger
Report, school funding was slashed in 2008 due to the recession at the time. (source #1)
However recently a new occurrence has made this a much bigger problem then previously
faced. Coronavirus as a pandemic has hit almost all over the world. And America has a rather
“interesting” approach when it comes to this virus. School’s were cancelled almost
immediately, and teachers and faculty were forced with the difficulty of this situation outright.
Teachers already do so much on pay that I feel needs to be increased, but they were asked to
do difficult things out of nowhere. They needed to adjust their curriculum due to an unforeseen
pandemic, using a method some might not be super skilled in. The struggle was real for the rest
of the semester. Thankfully, they had time to prepare for the next semester if only a little. Once
again according to the Hechinger Report, the budget was cut. Budget is extremely important,
and most times student success is affected by it. (source #1) Now when Schools need supplies
and aid more then ever, they instead get more taken away from them. That’s why I have
chosen my topic on how Schools are affected by this virus, and how steps need to be taken in
order to better public education. This is something very important to me, and I decided that it’s
what I want to write about most. So hopefully kids don’t have to deal with squeaky wheels and
lack of hand sanitizer.

Sources:
#1 https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-how-deep-coronavirus-school-budget-cuts-are-
expected-to-harm-student-achievement/