In my previous blog, I explained how students are being impacted because of budget cuts. In this blog, I plan to go more in dept about the effects of budget cuts in our public schools, primarily, the classes that are being taught. As stated before, the main reason for many classes being cut is due to the lack of money that public education receives due to budget cuts. When public schools receive budget cuts, usually the first classes to get cut are non-core classes such as ethnic studies, art classes, and P.E. The removal of these classes have negative impacts on the students, each in a different way. 

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Art classes are a fundamental part for student growth. Art allows the student to express themselves in a way in which that is beneficial for the student. The removal of art classes is shown to have a negative effect on the students. While school districts see the answer to their budget crisis as cuts to art programs,they do not foresee the problems that arise when students have no creative outlets in the classroom. This is demonstrated in the Milwaukee school district. Here it is shown that within two to three years of the budget cuts,morale has decreased and vandalism and delinquency has increased. Disciplinary staff had to be added to deal with the new problems that had arisen. In most cases, the additional staff cost more than the art programs themselves.(Hurley, 2004) This specific case demonstrates an even further reaching effect of a lack of arts education. Human beings inherently need to express themselves, and the arts provide a medium to do so in a safe and beneficial way. Art classes are a way for the students to not only express themselves, but where the student can benefit from and grow.

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Other non core classes that are being removed are Ethnic Studies classes. These classes have a clear influence on the student as these classes catches the students attention. In "Subtracting Schooling" written by Valenzuela, she studies Mexican American youth academic achievements. During her studies she witnesses that many students are not interested in their education, " They oppose a schooling process that disrespects them; they oppose not education, but schooling. My research suggests that schools like Seguin High are organized formally and informally in ways that fracture students cultural and ethnic identities, creating social, linguistic, and cultural divisions among the students and between the students and the staff." Like art classes, ethnic studies classes are a way for students to get another side of history, one that is avoided in the text books as well as one in which the students can connect to. As Curtis Acosta says in his interview, the students become interested in their education and become more engaged which has shown improvements in their test and grades. Ethnic studies can help the youth become more interested in their education which can allow students to continue on in there education as they would be taught not to hate their own race, but to value it, and in return, see better grades and test scores, as well as a higher graduation rate. 

P.E is another course that is being cut. Physical education allows the students to remain healthy as well as release all their energy to be better focused in their classes. In particular, four large-scale studies examining the effects of increased PE on a academic performance have been carried out: the Vanves project (30), the Trois Riveres study(31), the South Australian study (9) and project SPARK (28). In each of these studies, time spent by students in PE was significantly increased at the expense of time being spent in academic classes. In three of the studies, significant improvements in academic preformance were found with  increased PE, and in the fourth (the South Australia study), there were no significant differences in performance. These results are important because the extra time spent in PE has associated physical benefits and the use of school time for PE as opposed to academic subjects resulted in either improvements or no change in academic performance. P.E along with all these other classes that are cut due to budget cuts affects the students negatively and could halt a students potential. Students are not the only ones that are affected, the teachers who teach these classes are losing their jobs as well due to these budget cuts. It should be in our best interest to find a way to better fund these classes for the students to better improve test scores and grades, but more importantly, so the youth can be motivated to continue their education allowing them to be better prepared for their future.