首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Eating Our Young [A]At Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a middle school in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia, the scho
Eating Our Young [A]At Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a middle school in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia, the scho
admin
2014-12-18
23
问题
Eating Our Young
[A]At Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a middle school in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia, the school year began chaotically as budget cuts took effect. With the cuts meaning no school nurse or counselor, teachers fill the gaps, disrupting lessons to help students in distress. And the problems are not small: A boy was stabbed in the head with a pencil by a fellow student; a girl reported sexual assault by an uncle; another refused to speak after the brutal murder of a parent. And that was just the start of the school year. To make matters worse, budget cuts are hurting essential academic programs.
[B]Across the United States, whether it’s schools, food stamps, health care or entry-level jobs, the young are feeling the force of government cutbacks. This year, the young and vulnerable especially have been hit hard through automatic federal spending cuts to programs like Head Start, nutrition assistance, and child welfare. Financial crises in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit have meant another wave of school budget cutbacks. And the weak job market is hurting the youngest workers most, with youth unemployment more than double the national jobless rate.
[C]This is not just an American problem. In Europe, too, rigid budgets are squeezing even basic education and health needs. As governments strain to cover budget shortfalls and appease(缓解)debt fears, the young are losing out. "We’re underinvesting in our children," said Julia Isaacs, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a child policy expert. "Looking at future budget trends and the fact that Congress doesn’t want to raise taxes, I can see children’s programs continuing to be squeezed."
[D]That has implications for long-term economic growth. Cutting back on the young is like eating the seed corn: satisfying a momentary need but leaving no way to grow a prosperous future.
[E]Is America overspending on its young? Public spending in the U.S. on children came to $12,164 per child in 2008, in current dollars, according to Kids’ Share, an annual report published by the Urban Institute. Of that total, about a third came from the federal government and two thirds from state and local governments. Compare that to what we spend on the elderly, which primarily comes from the federal government. According to the Urban Institute, public spending on the elderly, in current dollars, was $27,117 per person in 2008, more than double the spending on children.
[F]The trend is the same across the developed world. Julia Lynch, a political science professor at the UDiversity of Pennsylvania, studied 20 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development between 1985 and 2000 and found each spent more public funds on the elderly than on the young. But there were large differences among them. She found the most youth-oriented welfare states were the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and in Scandinavia, while the most elderly-oriented were Japan, Italy, Greece, the U.S., Spain, and Austria. Somewhere in the middle were Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Portugal.
[G]Since the 1960s, federal spending on kids in the U.S. had been rising. That trend ended in 2011, when it dropped by $2 billion to $377 billion. A year later the figure plunged even more—by $28 billion. And spending on kids is planned to shrink further over the next decade. The Urban Institute has forecast that federal spending on kids will decrease from 10 percent of the federal budget today to 8 percent by 2023. That decline will occur even as federal spending is expected to increase by $1 trillion over the same period.
[H]So, what is the federal government spending on? The budget can be roughly divided in the following way: 41 percent goes to the elderly and disabled portions of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; 20 percent to defense; 10 percent to children; 6 percent to interest payments on the debt; and 23 percent to all other government functions. So if spending on kids does fall to 8 percent of the federal budget, and if interest payments rise along with higher interest rates over the same period, the federal government soon will be spending more on interest payments on the debt than on children.
[I]What’s driving government cutbacks? Much can be tied to fears of rising national debt. Paradoxically, advocates of debt reduction claim they are acting in the interest of the young; our debts seem be too heavy for the next generation. But in a supercompetitive global economy, nations investing today in the well-being and education of the young are writing the success stories of tomorrow.
[J]Of course, the U.S. is investing in education. Roughly 65 percent of all public spending on kids is on education, and that’s done primarily through state and local governments. But whether it’s early childhood education, elementary, middle, or high schools, or universities and colleges, fewer resources are going into public education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of teachers employed in kindergarten through year 12th grade, principals, superintendents and support staff, fell 2 percent between 2009 and 2011 while enrollment was steady.
[K]The trend of putting fewer resources into public education is even more striking at the college level. Take the University of California for example: The average annual student charges for resident undergraduates have increased 275 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1990 to 1991, while the university’s average per-student expenditures have decreased 25 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the same period. So as California students pay much more for their education than their parents did, they’re getting less.
[L]Throughout the current downturn, unemployment has tailed the workforce. The hardest hit has been the young. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment for 16-to-24-year-olds in July was 16.3 percent. That compares with our national jobless rate of 7.3 percent. And there are also large numbers of the young who are underemployed. Gallup recently found that only 43.6 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 had a full-time job in June 2013.
[M]High youth unemployment has implications for future earnings power. Economists who study the labor market have found that people who graduate from school without a job are likely to have lower wages in their career.
[N]Even when the young land a job, investment in young workers isn’t what it used to be. Training and education used to be part of any full-time job. Now, while global companies like Google advertise staff training, they tend to be the exception. Most companies have cut back over the years as corporate budgets are reduced and companies believe they can buy talent rather than grow it.
[O]Whether because of government cutbacks or falling business investment, the young are facing tougher prospects than did their parents. And that raises irritating questions about the future. Starting with the youngest, without solid nutrition and basic health care, children can’t become engaged and active students. Without resources to teach and a secure support system, public schools can’t turn out educated, smart kids. With the costs of college rising beyond the reach of many, large groups are being left behind. And with entry-level jobs and training scarcer than ever, the human capital necessary to grow America’s huge economy isn’t being developed. The burden on today’s young to support an aging society will grow—even as the resources they are provided don’t.
University students have to bear more charges for their education while gaining less.
选项
答案
K
解析
本题内容与教育经费削减带来的后果相关,根据句意定位到K段。该段讲到公共教育资源在大学的投入减少的趋势更为明显,并以加州大学生为例,说明学生在教育上支出更多,得到的却更少。本题句子对应该段最后一句,是对该段内容的概括。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/9Sm7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
MustthePoorGoHungryJustSotheRichCanDrive?SportsstarslikeMoFarahwillnotchangeasimplefact:peoplearesta
A、Itsmemberscanspendtimestogetheratweekends.B、Itisconnectedwiththespeakers’major.C、Itholdsactivitiessuchassp
A、Hisfriendsalwaysstayathomerecently.B、Hisfriendshavehelpedhimalot.C、Oneofthedoctorsishisfriend.D、Hehasto
Ifyou’reoneofthosepeoplewhotendstoputonweightaroundyourmiddle,whatdoctorscallan"appleshape"—whattherestof
A、Banksshouldintroducehigherratesforsavingstoattractcustomers.B、Peopleofallagesareeagertoreceivesomethingfor
AcontroversialnewamendmentbytheAcademyofMotionPictureArtsandSciencesisraisingsomeredflagswithdocumentaryfilm
A、Theyarerevolutionary.B、Theyarefullofexaggeration.C、Thelinesarecomplicated.D、Theyusuallydescribeindustrialscene
Themost【B1】______problemcreatedbytherapidincreaseinpopulationisa【B2】______offood.Moremouthshavetobe【B3】______eve
A、Heisnotaqualifiedteacher.B、Hehasalreadybeenmarried.C、Hedoesnotfeellikegoingtothedinner.D、Hedoesnotknow
A、Itcontrolspeople’sappetite.B、Ithelpswiththefooddigestion.C、Itadvancesfatburning.D、Itkeepsnaturalweight-lossm
随机试题
汇票的背书人在票据上记载了“不得转让”字样,但其后手仍进行了背书转让。下列关于票据责任承担的表述中,错误的是()。
新民主主义的政治是()
患者,男性,86岁。30小时前无明显诱因出现全腹部不适感,伴恶心,无呕吐,24小时前出现右下腹痛,无后背疼痛和放射痛,伴发热,体温39℃。体格检查:全腹部压痛,伴有反跳痛、肌紧张,以右下腹肌为著,肠鸣音消失。此时患者最佳的体位为
下列哪种说法是正确的?()
井控制装置是指实施油气井压力控制技术的所有设备、专用工具和管汇的总称。当井内泥浆液柱压力与地层压力之间的平衡被破坏时,井控装置能及时发现,正确控制和处理溢流,尽快重建井底压力平衡。下列装备中,属于井控装置的是()。
在平均停车面积较小情况下,要求迅速疏散的社会停车场常采用()的车辆停发方式。
背景资料:A公司中标桌供水厂的扩建工程,主要内容为一座在建调蓄水池。水池长为65m,宽为32m。为现浇钢筋混凝土结构,筏板式基础。新建水池采用基坑明挖施工。A公司施工项目部编制了施工组织设计,其中含现浇混凝土水池施工方案和基坑施工方案。水池施工方
甲公司董事会作出一项决议,部分股东认为该决议违反公司章程,欲通过诉讼请求法院撤销董事会的决议。这些股东应当如何提起诉讼?()
2018年,B市新经济实现增加值10057.4亿元,比上年增长9.3%,占全市地区生产总值的比重为33.2%,比上年提高0.4个百分点。全年全市新设立的企业中,信息服务业、科技服务业企业合计达到70661家,占比为38.5%,注册资本
Consuminghigh-qualityplantfoodssuchaswholegrains,fruits,vegetables,nutsandlegumesmaysubstantiallylowerriskofde
最新回复
(
0
)