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Evonda Hollis Writing 102 Professor Ennis April 2519, 2012 Education Takes a Hit The Great Recession of 2008 was an economic crisis that affected all aspects of Americans lives. It resulted in major job losses, foreclosures of homes, and mass political turmoil. The world of education is one of the areas where the recession not only caused major changes but is still doing so. Education became a primary factor in peoples lives after the unemployment rates begin to rise. Americans were having to make the choice of whether they could afford to go back to school in order to obtain the degree necessary to gain a job in those hard times, while parents were having to deal with the aftermath of the crisis which left many of the college funds set up for their children deplete or almost empty. In early 2000s a vast majority of students chose to attend colleges without having the cost of attendance play a major role in their decision. An article in the USA Today paper summarized the current situation best. For years, an article of faith in this country has been that college is the gateway to a better life. So deeply held is this belief that many students borrow tens of thousands of dollars to attend prestigious public or private universities. But as the worst recession since World War II trudges into its 21st month,
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many graduates are discovering that the college payoff could be a long time coming if it comes at all. This was true about most high school graduates. They were able to choose schools far away and able to attend the private colleges that they had been dreaming about for years. During the recession, this all changed. When the recession hit, parents had to start telling their children that they may not be able to afford the tuition at that fancy Ivy League college that they had their hearts set on due to the financial hits that the recession had thrown their way. This resulted in more students making the choices to attend public universities and community colleges. College students were also opting to choose schools that were closer to home so that they could live there and commute to school. A survey taken by US News proved that out of the college students surveyed, 38 percent of the students said they were electing to attend college close to home or stay at home and commute. Despite these changes, students still had to depend on larger financial aid packages in order to counteract the repletion of their college funds caused by the recession. There was also a peak in students who applied to work part-time while in college. While private universities and some public ones took a hit by the recession, the number of young adults attending college hit an all-time high in 2008. Confused? This peak was caused by the surge of enrollment at community colleges around the world. Roughly 39.6% of all young adults in the US ages 18 to 24 were enrolled in college in October of 2008. A paragraph from the Pew Research Centers website states, Community college enrollments have long been considered somewhat countercyclical; that is, they tend to rise as the economy worsens. One reason is that community colleges are less expensive than four-

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year institutions -- they average $6,750 per year (including tuition, fees, and room and board) in the net price for full-time students, compared with $9,800 for four-year public colleges and $21,240 for four-year private colleges. This grouped with the fact that most towns have community colleges that allow students to live at home and commute aptly explains exactly why students were choosing to attend community colleges. Another aspect of the education field that was affected by the recession is the number of older adults making the decision to return to college in order to either obtain a degree or a higher degree. This aspect also relates the unemployment rate and the job market. The

number of adult learners in college has increased significantly. Between 2000 and 2009, NCES recorded that the enrollment of students 25 and over rose 43 percent. This is in part due to the new strict standards that the job market had come up with as a result of the economicy downfall. Having a high school diploma was no longer enough to gain a job outside the fast food industry or other minimum wage type jobs. Businesses were looking for people with bachelor degrees or higher to represent and help maintain their business in these hard times. Older individuals without a college education had to go back to school and reeducate themselves in order to adapt and stand a chance at this new world. In the teaching field, certain teachers were being cut if their degree and experience level didnt meet certain standards. In the Columbus Municipal School district, teachers who had just recently gained their bachelors but did not have enough experience were being handled pink slips. One of my personal relations was handed her pink slip last year less than a year after having finally gained her bachelors degree in Elementary Education after attending night classes for years. This left her with only one choice and that was to go back
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to school in order to be able to compete with the other teachers. Besides adults deciding to go back to school on their own, businesses were also starting to offer the option of helping pay certain employees who showed great potential through school. This was in an attempt to hang on to their best players and to also give their business all the advantages that they could provide. Now that we have discussed the effect of the recession on the field of education in regards to students, we can look at it from the point of school boards and teachers. A thorough search on the site Center on Budget and Policy Priorities yielded these results on school district budget cuts. Federal employment data show that school districts began reducing the overall number of teachers and other employees in September 2008, when the first round of budget cuts began taking effect. The job losses have accelerated in the last year as the cuts have deepened; by September 2011, local school districts had cut 278,000 jobs nationally compared with 2008. With the economy how it was, it was to be expected that the government would cut budgets everywhere, including in public schools. With school districts having lower budgets, they had to make the hard choices about what to get rid of in order to stay afloat. This meant having to let go of certain employees and getting rid of certain school programs. As an example, I decided to pick out one particular area and focus on it. In the Columbus Municipal School District, over 39 jobs out of 615 positions district wide were trimmed from the school payroll in the 2010-2011 year. Twenty-three of these were certified

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teaching positions. This was a result of the schools budget being reduced to $6 million dollars lighter than last year. The 2012-2013 seems like it is going to be more of the same. The interim Columbus Municipal School District superintendent recently talked about the budget cut proposal that will most likely go through for this year. The initial proposal of eliminating 59 positions -- 54 teachers, three counselors, a coach and an administrator -would bring an estimated $2.1 million in cost-savings. Schools across the state were and still are having to make hard decisions like this. It is probably reasonable to assume that these budget cuts will be a long standing problem that will not fixed anytime soon. With the teaching field taking such hard hits, it is not surprising that students are thinking twice before majoring in Education. The job outlook for the field of education is decreasing and along with it is the number of people interested in the field. After roaming through different teaching message boards on the internet, I have a fair idea on what the job market in this area looks like and the most accurate description would be grim. There are not only thousands of teachers who have been handed pink slips looking for jobs; there are also fairly new graduates fresh out of college looking to find a teaching job. While on the message boards, I read one post written by a user named Teacher Bug about the difficulties she was having trying to find a teaching position. She talks about how she graduated in 2010 and has been searching for a teaching job ever since. Later in her post she goes on to talk about everything she has done to try to gain a job stating, I'veIve even been volunteering at a local middle school every day since August 2011, as if I were a regular teacher. I've tried as best I know to build my experience base and make myself more appealing to principals. On the message board, you could see several similar posts from other users. There were

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people out there willing to teach but there werent any job available. Seeing the position that these people were in made me wonder about the consequences of people who were enthusiastic about teaching not being able to do what they loved the most. Regarding all these changes that the recession has caused, theres one point that has solidified in my mind. With all of these students going to school with the goal of getting a job rather than going to explore and learn what they love to do, what does this mean for our society? If people start getting jobs that they have no enthusiasm for, will our world progress? Will anyone actually feel the desire to teach with the education field in the condition that it is? With students, me included, giving the field of education a wide berth, the world could be missing out on amazing teachers who could change the world or at least their part of the world. This will mean that students who could have been saved by that teacher will no longer feel inspired to do well in school or go to college, so they will end up dropping out instead. Yes, I know this sounds like an over exaggeration, but dont you remember that one teacher in your life who made school fun and was one of the reasons that you wanted to pursue a post-secondary education? One of my fellow classmates had this to say about her education experience when asked, I remember that I used to hate school. Everything about it irritated me: the homework, the essays, the projects, the teachers, and the kids, but then I took Spanish with Mrs. Stanback. She made all her assignments fun and actually was a pretty cool teacher. She always encouraged me and told me that I was smart. She even helped me with scholarships and homework in other classes. Shes one of the main reasons that I decided to go to college and major in English with a minor in Spanish.

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Teachers like those are needed in todays world. Areas like Mississippi, where education is highly needed, will suffer the most from these changes. Mississippis current dropout rate is 39% and it will probably increase if the teaching economy continues like it is. Students in these areas need teachers who are passionate about what they do, not teachers who are just there to receive a paycheck, but as it stands it seems that no major changes will be taking place in the near future. I hope that the economy turns around so that students are able to go back to attending college for its initial purpose: to find out exactly what they love and what they are good at doing. College is supposed to be about finding ourselves not finding the study field that is the most profitable. A person should not be afraid to do what they love just because the job outlook for their career is grim. A person like Teacherbug should not have to settle for another job when her passion is to teach. Education is such a primary factor in all of our lives and I would hate to see the world in 10 years where we see it as a necessary evil rather than the privilege and gift that it is.

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Works Cited Block, Sandra. "In a recession, is college worth it? Fear of debt changes plans." USA Today. n.p., Aug 31 2009. Web. April 24 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2009-08-30-college-costs-recession_N.htm Browne, Jason. "Columbus school district's 2010-2011 budget down $6 million Read more: http://we Website." Commercial Dispatch. n.p., June 30 2010. Web. April 24 2012. http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=6827 "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. n.p., n.d. Web. April 24 2012. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98 It still pays to study; Higher education and the recession. The Economist (London) 392.8648 12 Sep 2009: 67. Economist Newspaper Ltd. 27 Apr 2012 Leachman,Michael, Michael and Oliff, Phil. "New School Year Brings Steep Cuts in State Funding for Schools." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. n.p., Oct 7 2011. Web. April 24 2012. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3569 Sisson, Carmen K. "Interim Columbus superintendent defends teacher cuts." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. n.p., Feb 17 2012. Web. April 24 2012. http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=15690

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TeacherBug. "Calling it Quits Before You Begin?.?" The Teacher's Corner. n.p., April 19 2012. Web. April 20 2012. http://forums.theteacherscorner.net/showthread.php?11327-Calling-it-Quits-Before-YouBegin&highligh Waldman, Allison J. EDUCATION A HEDGE AGAINST RECESSION. TelevisionWeek (Chicago, Ill.) 27.32 15 Dec 2008: 24. Crain Communications Ltd. 27 Apr 2012