In this economy, having any job is something to be proud of. However the company I work for does not have any chances for advancement and it does seem like a dead end job when many of the full time positions got consolidated and the redundant employees got demoted. Working part time and living with family cannot go on forever. For the last two years I have became motivated to work on my goal to become an educator for the Social Sciences for the 7^th thru 12^thgrades.

I did not expect to return back to Chaffey College. I graduated in 2001, transferred to UC Riverside and earned a BA in Political Science in 2003. I have flirted with the idea of becoming an educator for a few years, but never did anything about my goal until now. I took most of the tests needed in order to be eligible to enter a teacher preparation program, but each school I wanted to attend had its own criteria for admission. One school wanted me to have previous experience working with children while most programs that focus on this aspect already want people already experienced so there was no way I was going to get my foot in the door, while the school I eventually considered said what I have done is great, but I still needed more classes in order to be eligible for admission.

I was eager to start as soon as possible, however with five classes needed to finish I was in a state of panic and realized that the place I began my higher education would be the place where I could complete my goals and transfer so I could finally make good use from my education from Chaffey College and UC Riverside. It was way past the registration date to get several classes to sign up for, but something did catch my eye when I saw an advertisement for Fast Track classes were added that semester and I raced to get admitted into one of them so I could get ready for completing my goal. Sociology was my first class and I did have some minor issues in juggling work and school at the same time. Sadly there was no online classes to take advantage of where I could work my assignments at my own time, but my employer ignored my schedule change the first week and I was worried that I was going to be dropped from class. With this unfortunate economy we are all suffering its effects and I was worried that I was going to lose my seat due to not showing up. However I was one lucky individual because my instructor had to go to the hospital on the first day and there was no worry about being dropped from the roll sheet. Then after talking to the corporate office of my company they fixed my schedule for the week ahead and things did go smoothly.

It may be odd for some students and some instructors to see someone seasoned in their classes, but during my Sociology class I ended up helping to lead study sessions for my classmates and even gave advice on how to write proper research papers such as how to find sources and how to begin a paper with a thesis statement. In my World History class I was complimented on the perspectives I provided during class discussions on the various topics we studied in class.

I thought taking these five classes was going to be redundant, but personally I learned more from these classes that would help me do better in my future studies academically and professionally. Right now I am working on my final class in order to transfer to Western Governor’s University, and I am using my experience and wisdom to help me through the finish line. I was basically a C student when I was at Chaffey a decade ago, but my grades have turned for the better in the last year where I have earned A and A minus grades mainly. Education is indeed a terrible thing to waste, when I was a student a decade ago I did not take school as seriously as I have done today. With higher tuition and lack of seats it has driven me to succeed at the first moment so I do not end up prolonging my journey any longer.

I may not be living in an utopia like the far left folk who want free rides, but fees going upto 20k a year does frustrate us all. 

From prior experiences for the last five years, I think the best idea might be web conferences. No matter what campus the UC Regents meet, it should be done via teleconference because demonstrations are going to happen until we get back to stable fees that the average Californian can afford.

It might mean we might have to pare down the layers of administration, maybe have a 30% Online, 70% in campus degree program to save on costs. It might mean begging the state legislators to be pro-business so we can bring forth the revenue to make UC affordable instead of taxing our way to salvation.

However just like my part time job and my experiences at the dentist, I will traverse my struggles. Instead of the dentist costing me over 990, I expect this year’s expenditures to be half as much due to improved dental habits. Its sad that my poor dental habits in the past could of paid for half my student loan or a trip to England.

I am ready to roll and the journey is only beginning. Because I eagerly want to transfer to WGU and start my teaching credential program by July. I previously wrote a column criticizing some of the most infamous instructors at Chaffey College, if I only had a different instructor for US History I would have been starting the program for my Social Science teaching credential next month. It just makes me wish for the sentiment that if I have my own classroom, I want to be fair to my students and not fail people just to get my kicks. 

I think the best solution is personal responsibility, if you can not pay the loans off in a reasonable fashion or at least pay half of the cost back you should reconsider the program you enroll for.

Borrowing 100,000 for a BA degree is silly if you are not going to have the ability or future potential to pay the fees. Yes, we need to reasonably fund our state universities. Fees went up 125% since I last went to UC Riverside. Yes, I believe we should not give free rides entirely. However fees should go back to 7 or 8 thousand instead of 12 thousand for the University of California as an example.

Basically all I am asking for is people to borrow what they can reasonably pay off. I know student loan debt is a crippling burden and the legal rules stating that students can not declare bankruptcy makes it hard for students to write off this debt. I think limiting how much students can borrow in exchange for being allowed to declare bankruptcy after all avenues are exhausted would be a good idea.

I have written a column on this previously on my blog, but I would like to reemphasize this issue.

School projects should not cost an arm and a leg and there should be a mandate that there should be projects that cost less than 5 dollars for students with families who do not have much money. Families should not need to do a James Cameron production for their book report or atom model project.

Also, there should be a fiscal limit of how much a teacher can mandate in how much can be spent for a school project on the parents. Unfunded mandates are indeed a burden.

Extra credit assignments should not require having to visit the store to build a thirty dollar contraption either. If educators have more empathy on their students parents, then the relationship will greatly improve.

Ignorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand for those who want to strip out the information about the accomplishments of the LGBT community from the recently passed SB 48. The proponents for the repeal drive do not want the sunlight of information to humanize the LGBT community in our schools so they can use the community as a means to dehumanize and demean these individuals for political power and contributions.

Unfortunately the proponents believe that just knowing about LGBT people will make people become LGBT. Knowing about gay people is not going to make you want to be gay, either you are or you are not. Because of ignorance we have a lack of understanding or compassion. Fear leads to bullying and harassment in our school house walls. If we want kids to not be fearful of being beaten up or intimidated we should do our best to make our schools safe. When students are confident and happy, they perform well by giving themselves better grades.

Matt Munson

Ontario, California

The police brutality in Fullerton California has led towards greater awareness of the issue of police brutality, it has helped lead towards more people being wary of our law enforcement. Police brutality on the UC system is not just an issue with the Occupy protesters, but it is a systematic problem that has happened from the fee hike protests of recent years.

Since the UC system is having fiscal difficulties due to our state budget crisis, it would be in great interest for the chancellors, UC President and the UC Regents to learn how to work with the students better instead of losing money from lawsuits and alumni closing their wallets due to these incidents.

If students were using clubs and throwing grenades to the police then yes, I could understand a violent response. However these individuals were using the same methods of Martin Luther King and Gandhi to demonstrate for the issues they care about. Just as how the police in the southern states used fire hydrants on the black civil rights protesters, it is only going to radicalize and increase the number of supporters for the Occupy movement.

Sadly I thought we were the United States, but more and more we are becoming a carbon copy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Crony corporatism, the lack of freedom of expression such as how opposition candidates and gay rights advocates get the same abuse as the Occupy protesters makes the comparison all so real.

For 2012, those who are concerned about the issues of the day should get mobilized in the ballot box so we could change the establishment for the better by running for office or teaming up with someone else who is so we can make the government work for the common people.

If the UC Regents and its chancellors fail to change tactics on non-violent resisters then it is up to the state legislature to write policy for them.

Working on getting US History post 1865 enrolled again is going to be a fun challenge, I could either CLEP it or take it at Riverside Community College’s summer session. I want to make sure I start my credentialing program at Western Governor’s University by March at the latest.

The positive thing I would like to state is at least I am working on future progress, it may not be immediate. However it is getting there.

Also I did get some criticism for eating at Subway due to their sponsorship of Michael Vick. Problem is its not my personal choice to eat there, my sister drags me there. Anyways just like how people pay carbon offsets, I guess I could donate to an animal shelter or a rescue to make up for that. However Subway is not endorsing him per say, but the award in the BET awards was sponsored by them in general.

My other website is here, its my future political website. I am pondering my options and will make a formal announcement if I get the right connections to make political realities come true.

The website is called Donorschoose.org, feel free to visit the site and read the sad, yet needed requests from many educators in our communities.

An educator in Ontario wrote:

My students deserve the best I can provide! Unfortunately, I was recently changed from Kindergarten to 2nd grade. In this transition, I found that the specific materials I have for my new students, such as lined paper and crayons, are specifically for Kinder aged students and not 2nd grade.

I feel horrible that this transition is not the students’ fault. In addition to having inappropriate materials for my students, the budget crisis in the state of California is getting worse and worse. This year, we were only given a fourth of what we usually get to purchase supplies for students. This means the majority of the supplies came from my pocket or extremely kind donations! My students truly deserve the best I can offer them! They are so excited to be 2nd graders and are so eager to learn. I do not want a budget crisis to interfere in any way with their opportunity to learn. I also would hate to have to eliminate any special projects encouraging further understanding because we are limited on supplies. Please help me keep these students motivated and un-phased by the budget.

Find a school near you and make the lives of children better.

We are having reports of student suicides happen across the nation because students are not experiencing a friendly school environment and when school board members have a cavalier attitude against students who are not following the norms of heterosexuality it does not help with the education of our students.

When schools are facing shortages in their budgets, students not attending school because they are fearful of violence or harassment which does not help with school revenue where schools are paid by daily attendance of students. Even if students are attending while they are fearful of violence and harassment that also leads to low test scores on the California STAR tests which schools cannot afford low scores either.

Religiosity may be an important factor for the majority of this school board, but it should not be force fed to the students of the school district from the curriculum to the graduation speeches at the end of the year. This school board is a perfect example why bills such as AB 9 (Seth’s Law) and SB 48 (FAIR Education Act) are written. Brandon Blanchard fails to recognize that even with his opposition to SB 48 and as a black man, without a gay black man such as Bayard Rustin. Martin Luther King would have not been able to put on the March on Washington in 1963 which led to the Civil Rights act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

School board elections are typically low information affairs compared to races for US Senate and President. However voters should take the responsibility to ask questions of candidates on how they stand on the issues so they do not end up becoming stealth candidates advocating issues you may not agree with when they are elected.