Blog 8: School Cutbacks Will Sacrifice the Future

Alexus Gordon 

October 19, 2012

SOC 202-01

                The European Student Union’s latest biannual convention discussed a topic that seems to be well known in the United States: cutbacks in education.  “We want governments and the E.U. to invest more in higher education, in training and in young people in general.”  This statement was given by the union’s vice chairman, Rok Primozic, as he like many others worry of being able to sustain growth when the E.U. economy recovers.  He follows his statement with another: “But the point we really want to make is that if European governments continue to cut back on education, they are also cutting back on skills. Don’t governments see that, because of the cutbacks, we will not emerge from the financial crisis stronger and more competitive?” 

                Teachers and students, otherwise known as the future of their country, are suffering immensely from the educational cutbacks.  In order to make savings, teachers in 16 E.U. countries have had their salaries either frozen or reduced, some by as much as 30 percent.  Countries are potentially causing a brain drain by taking instead of dispensing money into the education system.  Skilled and educated individuals will be in great need to sustain a recovered economy but while the few motivated and creative seek opportunity elsewhere all that remains is the resultant uneducated and unskilled majority of young cohorts. 

                How a population lacking in knowledge will not only sustain a recovered economy but also make it grow, is beyond my personal comprehension.   The fact that the European Union is only looking at short term solutions to their economic issues seems to have been part of a poorly thought out plan.  Education is one of the most important elements of human development and as future generations will be in charge of economic growth, this decision will have consequences that may turn out to be quite major.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/world/europe/16iht-letter16.html?ref=internationaleducation