Splitting
Popping another Advil, Baton Rouge rubbed his forehead and got up to close the blinds of his office. These days, his headache was a constant thrum against his skull. But sometimes and just sometimes it lessened when he blocked out the light from the day and ate half a bottle of Advil. Once finished with his morning tasks, the young man went to his desk and began to go through the news articles about his home once again.
He groaned at one of the articles his eye caught, it was about the possible split.
Baton Rouge understood both sides (how could he not when his people were so divided?), but he really didn't like that some of his better, well-to-do citizens wanted to split from him and become St. George. The very thought made this headache seem like nothing. If those people got to split off from him, they'd leave Baton Rouge weak.
Weaker than he was right now.
What the young man just couldn't wrap his head around was how these people could want to split for the sake of their own children's educations while sacrificing that of their offspring's compatriots. How could a mother not ache at the thought of a child just as beautiful, just as sporty, just as quirky as their own being left in the dirt because someone else thought they weren't worth the money to educate for a better tomorrow?
How was it that a father could take pride in what his own son or daughter did on the sports field or in the classroom, but not take pride in the people and friends that helped their child get to where they were? How could he want to let the schools that gave his son, his daughter the chance to shine fall apart? How could he think well of himself knowing he was going to let some of his daughter's and son's friends be left behind in a rotting school where their potential would decay to nothing?
Why did people think of themselves and never their neighbors?
Sighing as he put his face to the cool metal of his desk, Baton Rouge prayed that his people would see that sooner than later that their children would have a better future as a whole instead of divided.
I'm really just brooding on this issue, I don't live in Baton Rouge, but I sympathize. In America, schools are funded by the property taxes of the surrounding communities, so the richer neighborhoods have better funded schools and poor areas have shoddy schools.
In Baton Rouge right now, the more affluent communities are attempting to split away from Baton Rouge so their children can have a better education than the one they're getting at this moment.
As you can see from my fic, I'm against this. The point of having an affluent community fund the same schools poorer areas are funding is to try and give all students an equal education. By splitting they'd be taking away the resources the kids from poorer families now have that help them reach their full potential and become successful members of our society.
America's schooling system needs an overhaul, but congress and the senate aren't interested. So, it's up to us to do the best we can with what we have and sometimes, that means helping our schools get better by sticking it out even when the ratings are down. You can't just take away the opportunity from children who really need it when you can just as easily put your son or daughter in supplementary activities to give them an edge in life.
Thank you all very much for reading and let me know what you think with a review.