Corporate Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships for schools? **** Ya! The timed writing, that everybody loved, had me thinking about how awesome it can be.

I know that the first three sentences may have made me sound ignorant, but then again most McFarland students have never known what it is like to attend a school that can't afford a smart board for almost every room. It's pretty obvious that we have money pouring out all over the place when we have teachers joking about how they never use their smart board. The things that we have here at McFarland High prevent us from seeing the necessary compromises that organizations must take.

The main reason why I came off so strong was due to the fact that I have been to multiple schools, and I have spoken with other students from a much greater variety of local high schools. My common observation is that Madison area high schools do not have the academic advantages that we have. Smart boards, new text books, multiple computer labs, and other things, that we have here at McFarland that aid us in getting ahead, are non-existent at other schools. They simply do not have the same advantages that we have.

However, if giant corporations want to paint murals of their logos all over the hallways of their schools, then I say why not? If a student can get a better head start with the aid of new funds, then who can say no? I know of the arguments against corporate sponsorships such as: compromising school identity, a reduction in the learning environment's integrity, and, for lack of better words, brain washing.

Well the hard reality is that the student who goes to a corporate sponsored high school will have much better learning opportunities than s/he would at the school that didn't make any sacrifices for the overall advancement of education. And in regards to the issue of "advertisement overload," welcome to capitalism. What I mean is that companies have their logos all over the place; the typical student is so numb to the everyday bombardment of advertising that it really doesn't matter where they come up.

This is capitalism, this is our society, this is life, get used to it.

Racial Progress

The very exciting timed writing prompt that we most recently did got me thinking of the progress that we've made when it comes to equality. No longer is someone free to scream racial obscenities, or to deny certain things to one another due the color of their skin.

Now the framework for true racial equality has been set up. Laws have been set up to ensure that we, as a nation, make forward progress to unity. Though the remnants of the past still linger in the form of bigotry and prejudice, their presence has been greatly reduced.

The speech that the timed writing was centered around was directed at incorporating the Black population into the Union's military during the Civil War. Just by looking at today's standards and the amount of minorities in the military is enough to make one question whether or not they were ever excluded. I don't know any statistics, but what I do know is that the boss for the Marine Corps Recruiting Station is Black, and that a lot of the "higher ups" for our recruiting district are also Black. A third of Madison's recruiters have Mexican heritage and half of all of the recruiters represent different minorities.

The point that I am trying to make is that the evidence of racial inequality is surely fading in our nation. What seemed like a big deal at the outbreak of the Civil War then, is now a simple mundane thing that goes unnoticed now. From my point of view, the walls that society set up to keep the races isolated are crumbling under there own weight, and as time passes by, they will be non-existent someday and there will be a blend of cultures.