By Rachel Bracker
Editor-in-Chief
This article is about sacrifice.
The Bible is the best selling book on the planet, and it begins with Abraham. He tries to prove his monotheistic beliefs by smashing the idols in his father’s shop and moving to Canaan (Israel), but this isn’t enough for God.
The man in the sky orders Abraham to kill his own son, Isaac, and Abraham (after some mental deliberation) ties his son to a rock and prepares to murder his kin. Luckily, God stops Abraham at the last minute, revealing that His intent was just to see if Abraham was dedicated enough to sacrifice his son.
Of course, it is highly unlikely that our state congress will magically procure enough money to prevent the cuts our district must make. This crisis, unfortunately, is not likely to be a test of our ability to sacrifice.
There is no man in the sky to tell our school board: “just kidding, we’re just testing you.” There is no way to make budget cuts without cutting class size reduction. We must sacrifice.
The administration of our school district needs to be more sensitive to these sacrifices in order for this situation not to seem cruel to those who are thrown under the bus.
Administrators have money set aside for iPhones and gas for their cars. To the teachers losing their jobs, such expenditures seem frivolous and ridiculous. After all, if we ignore Mrs. Shales-Clark and believe in global warming, they really just ought to ride a bike.
There was a lot of national anger at the bank bailouts, but Congress still made it happen in one week. The loan had very few strings attached and seemed to save the banking system. Yet, instead of lending money to jump-start the economy, the banks offered their CEO’s and CFO’s golden parachutes. President Obama chastised them.
Administrators in our district have been just as guilty. Money set aside to improve academic buildings was used to build an administration building nicknamed the “Taj Mahal” (while classrooms intended to be temporary buildings were used for decades). The story of the colossal district office isn’t any more inspiring.
In order for students to be educated effectively, sacrifices will have to be made. Class sizes will increase, arts programs will shrink and specialists will leave.
The administrators need to prove they are making sacrifices as well. They need to ensure that the BB Bond is used solely to help students, and that they perform their duties with maximum efficiency.
Sacrifice is a common theme in world religions. The Greeks, Romans, Celts and Native Americans employed animal sacrifices. The Mayans and Aztecs were even more die hard, as they actually sacrificed humans. Catholics and Lutherans practice Lent, where they give up a crucial aspect of their lifestyle to show their devotion to God.
The word sacrifice comes from the Old French ‘sacra’ and ‘fecere,’ literally meaning “to do a sacred thing.” Our language, a key part of our culture, inherently implies that it is sacred to give up one thing for another.
The hardest part of sacrifice is to remember why one thing is compromised for something else. In the next few years, everyone needs to remember that children learning, education, is the most important thing. And to accomplish that, we need to be careful what we sacrifice.
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