High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Less Is More Trouble: Budget Cuts Hit Hard

A lot of belt-tightening is taking place on campuses throughout the state. Everybody is feeling the effects of a depressed economy, and high school students are no different.

Hot Topics asks, “How, specifically, have any budget cuts at your school affected you as a student?”

“There is less money for sports and leadership and more crowded classes. Also I have to do many fund-raisers to make up for the money that I’m not getting.”

Tina Nguyen, 16,

senior, Valencia

“In my class we have to share books every day with other people in each period. Sometimes the teacher would have to copy the page from the book to give us homework.”

Dan Nickooe, 14,

freshman, Rancho Alamitos

“My algebra II/trigonometry class was too full, and I had to transfer out to bring the number of students down.”

Angela Lai, 15,

sophomore, Kennedy

“At Mater Dei, the tuition has dramatically increased since last year. Middle-class families that have sent their kids through the parochial school system are having a difficult time. As a student, the inflated tuition has given me a taste of what college costs are going to be like.”

Natalie May, 17,

senior, Mater Dei

“How are you supposed to learn with 41 kids and only 33 desks in an Advanced Placement class?”

Lauren Stewart, 17,

senior, Huntington Beach

“The way teachers teach us is totally different now. It’s like they don’t want to come to school anymore. Their whole attitude has changed toward us. I agree that they don’t teach for the money, but now it seems like they resent us.”

Kim Tate, 17,

senior, Canyon

“Students have to spend their own money to buy some books.”

Sean Christensen, 16,

junior, Los Alamitos

“Budget cuts have affected me in not only negative, but positive ways. I’ll have to be writing a lot more (notes in class) because of the teachers’ limit of paper and the usage of Xerox machines, and that can be quite a hassle. However, by writing more, I’ll learn a lot more and absorb a lot more of the information into my mind.”

Tuyet Nguyen, 17,

senior, Los Amigos

“It’s harder to get teachers you wanted . . . Some of the teachers were let go.”

Kelly Nguyen, 16,

senior, Saddleback

“The classes are too large. We can’t learn as much because teachers can’t teach in such a large class. It gets out of control.”

Magda Soto, 17,

senior, Canyon

“The budget cuts make it very hard for me to concentrate solely on my studies. I find myself worrying about why I have to fund-raise twice as much as before.”

Kathy Jung, 16,

junior, Loara

“I have no books to take home for any of my classes; we don’t even have enough for all the students in the classrooms.”

Sara Edwards, 15,

junior, La Habra

“The bus fare for my sister and I is causing an inconvenience for my parents.”

Sara Moser, 15,

sophomore, Capistrano Valley

“I don’t have enough classes; a lot of books are very, very old with covers falling off and pages ripped.”

Jennifer Wu, 17,

senior, Garden Grove

“After sixth and seventh periods, the school is full of kids who can’t afford bus passes, looking for rides home.”

George Pavlov, 16,

junior, Dana Hills

“There aren’t any (budget cuts) at St. Margaret’s. We pay so much to go here.”

Kimberly Helms, 14,

freshman, St. Margaret’s

“Classes have been cut, and our tutoring center has been closed.”

Sadme Merida, 17,

senior, Century

“Even though my high school is not state-funded, it, too, is affected by a weak economy. All of the tuition is not yet collected, so all of the expenses cannot yet be allotted for.”

David Willett, 17,

senior, Orange Lutheran

“They have affected me significantly through things like the annihilation of the sophomore Academic Decathlon team and other extracurricular activities. It seems like the benefits for honors students are the first to go when budget cuts come around.”

Jonathan Dienhart, 15,

sophomore, Villa Park

“The cheerleaders can’t use butcher paper for banners anymore.”

Carol Kim, 17,

senior, El Toro

“Our year is longer, so I run the risk of suffering from a nervous breakdown even earlier than I expected.”

Elisa Lee, 15,

junior, Brea-Olinda

“Teachers cannot spend much time helping you because there are too many students. Some classes are closed, so your options are limited in choosing a class.”

Rene Corona, 17,

senior, Rancho Alamitos

“We can’t perform a dance production show for our own school because they cut dance production.”

Angela Bennett, 16,

senior, Capistrano Valley

“People have to sit on the counter in our Advanced Placement biology class because it’s so crowded.”

John Wu, 14,

sophomore, Dana Hills

Next Week’s Hot Topic:

If you could start a class in anything at your school, what would it be and why?

Responses gathered by Hallie Kim (Brea-Olinda), Leslie Larue (Canyon), Julie Kim (Capistrano Valley), Heather McRea (Century), Tina Toochinda (Dana Hills), Traci McCrimmon (El Toro), Mia Gonzales (Garden Grove), Morgan Howard (Huntington Beach), Abby Fung (Kennedy), Elaine Ust (La Habra), Shareen Ahned (Loara), Tricia Ginsburg (Los Alamitos), Jennifer Chau (Los Amigos), Caroline Lynch (Mater Dei), MaryAlice Perez (Orange Lutheran), Detra Vickers (Rancho Alamitos), Regina Hoang (Saddleback), Brooke Lyons (St. Margaret’s), Analisa Castro (Valencia) and Darice Liu (Villa Park).