Education

• Make teaching credentials standardized across the country, so teachers can move between states.
• Pay teachers more.
• Allocate stipends so teachers don’t need to pay for materials out of their pocket.
• Subsidize college tuition so everyone has the opportunity to obtain a free education.
• Increase funding for extracurricular activities.

The current teacher shortage has been exacerbated by several factors, one of which is the unaffordability of education. To combat this, the cost of college must be subsidized by both the university and the government. For many, college is cost-prohibitive and forces them into debt. Negating this will allow more would-be teachers to enter classrooms. Teachers can change lives. I did theater in high school, and my teachers saw past my façade and knew I was just lost, trying to navigate a complicated path. We need more teachers like that who genuinely care and want to teach, but are prohibited due to the cost. One day, I want to give back and excite the next generation about science as a high school teacher.

In addition to removing the financial barriers to entering the education field, we must pay teachers more. Every day, they juggle the varied needs and abilities of students in large classrooms, heavy workloads, and recently, pressures to teach incomplete history and science. Combine that with insultingly-low pay, it is no surprise that 42% of Utah teachers left the profession within five years.

As a nation, we are taking advantage of our teachers. This must stop. We need to give teachers a stipend, so they won’t need to pay for classroom materials out of their own pocket. By investing in our teachers, we invest in our children and the future of the state of Utah.

We don’t need to slash extracurricular activities — they help kids figure out what they want to do in life. Extracurricular activities are not extra; they are vital to a child’s education. Research shows participation positively affects graduation rates, community involvement, and academic and social development. We must provide more funding, at both the state and national level, to ensure students have access to these programs.

Extracurricular activities benefit students in many ways:

• Arts education improves academic and social development, according to new research. Specifically, more art experiences can lead to enhanced school engagement, better standardized writing scores, reduced disciplinary problems, and increased empathy and compassion for others.
• Sports team participation is linked to higher GPAs for all students, and female high school athletes are three times more likely to graduate than their peers. In addition, physically-active children, on average, have higher test scores and self esteem, are more likely to attend college, and have 7–8% higher annual earnings once they enter the workforce.
• Student government, like many other extracurricular activities, can provide students with opportunities to build personal and professional relationships, practice teamwork, and build their resumes for both college applications and the workforce.