US history starting in 1860, and its not the teachers fault?

Question

I am now a Junior in High School now in Memphis TN.

As most of people now know, there have been many budget cuts, hurting school funding. I never knew it was this bad though until this year when I received my history book. Why my history book and not another torn up old book. Well this book is torn and also old (6 years old), but that is not what bothers me. The problem is that it is missing the first 200 pages and so happens to start in 1860, missing over 100 years in United States history. The worst part about it is there are no other books to give me,curtisey of Memphis City School Board. And it gets better... our teacher did a raffle to give out books, the catch is though if you get an "x" on a piece of paper, you dont get a book...(3 people in my class alone did not get books, even tough we have a test tommorrow. This is an injustice to all students and should be imediatly corrected.

What should I do to get our school more books? any ideas will help

Answer 1

You should borrow a good copy of the book, scan it or copy it, and give it to the students without books.  It's stealing, I don't want to mislead you and say it is legal.  However, if your school can't provide a primary textbook for every student in an academic subject, it sounds like your politicians (and indirectly, the parents who elected them) or your school are stealing your education from you.

That helps for the test, what you need to fix the situation is political action.  First, try to find out where the fault lies.  Make an appointment with the principal.  Ask him why you don't have textbooks.  If he tells you about the budget, the mayor, or the school board, then you need to talk to them.  You also need to write a letter to the editor of your local paper so that everyone knows how pitiful your textbook situation is.  Convince your parents, send them to a PTA meeting and have them bring your pathetic text and the story of the X cards.  Better still, send them with other outraged parents so they can't just tell your parents to shut up--if they do, someone else will pick up where they left off.  (You could go yourself, but I'm not sure they'd allow you to speak--it's easier to get your parents to do this).  Attack from both ends--get into discussions with the people who can change this, at the same time you are gathering grassroots support and informing your community so that the people in power will take you seriously.  

While you try to fix the heart of the situation, you can always raise the money yourself, with help of course.  Get a few people together and come up with a fund raiser to buy books for the kids that don't have them.  I think its a shame that we pay so much in taxes to buy war machines while you need to have a bake sale to buy a history book, but sometimes that is just reality.  Even if the government is supposed to have you covered, in the end you have to take care of yourself.

If you pull this off, you'll have one amazing college application essay to write.  So if you are wondering why you should have to bother, just think of it as extra credit.

Answer 2

Does your school have a PTG or PTA?  If so, attend the next meeting and  voice your concerns, they may be able to stage a fund raiser.  Also, contact local media outlets and the education board.  Every one in the US has a right to an education.

Answer 3

Wow and i thought California was bad.... raise h**l man, go to school board meetings, anything you can to raise the issue, write to your Governor and your congressman/woman, put it out there for the everyone to hear so it gets the attention needed, call families of students, start a petition, try collecting money to buy books like a raffle  do something like that.....

Answer 4

Don't worry, nothing important happened in the first 100 years of our country. LOL

Maybe have some bake sales or candy bar sales or magazine sales.  

Answer 5

Explain the dilemma to a local copy shop and ask if he will xerox the first 200 pages for you as a charitable expense. Tell him he can photocopy the pages from a student who has a complete book on the back of discarded sheets so he is out only the toner. He may cite copyright problems, though.

Contact a local news station to see if they'll do a story and that may shame the Board of Education into rectifying this problem. Or contact the owner of a successful business with a lot of teenage clients to see if he will buy the missing books. You can sometimes find used textbooks cheap on Amazon.com.

Answer 6

That's because in the last few years people have been voting for people who promise not to raise taxes. See, books and roads and teachers cost money, and that money has to some from somewhere. So when politicians promise not to raise taxes, think about what that REALLY means.  

Answer 7

This is sadly a horrible crime that our government is committing.  talk directly to the Board or get news media involved to raise money.

I hope you get a better book, and good luck.

Answer 8

what are you crying about? the school district i work for had to cut their budget by $46 million this year....no child left behind my ***.