Thursday, September 27, 2007
Blog #2 Googly Eyes and Pipe Cleaners
The overall subject of this Onion article is school funding or lack thereof (budget cuts). It is blanketed by a story that presents a ridiculous anxiety that stems from a school losing funding for googly eyes and pipe cleaners. I think that the audience is anyone who knows anything about educational budget cuts, so basically everyone. Although, I do think the meaning changes depending on who the audience is or there are just two meanings that the audience on either side could take from it. One could interpret it as showing just how ridiculous budget cuts are becoming or you might think that it is making fun of those against budget cuts for areas such as the arts that aren't seen as crucial to education. The article is presented in a sort of hysterical way. The teachers and parents that the article quotes are worried that if it's googly eyes and pipe cleaners today, what will it be tomorrow? The article in and of it itself is pretty ridiculous because there probably aren't many educators who are nit-picking at the small things they can't buy anymore, but it's not having these classes/disciplines altogether that's the big issue. When reading this article, depending on which side you stand, you could be disgusted when thinking about the reality of it or it's just amusing for it's absurdity. The author uses quotes to help string along his argument that this is really something to be noticed. If it was true it would seem to appeal to emotion in that people would feel the need to be sympathetic but really it just makes you wanna chuckle...or laugh. The author is writing as though he has a stake in this issue. He pulls comments from the oppressed side and it seems as though he is part of their Discourse. If one were to take this article seriously it might seem like he really doesn't want budget cuts to affect the use of those great googly eyes and pipe cleaners we all know and love!
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1 comment:
"To write out one's name, or the name of one's mommy, by pasting dried macaroni to colored paper is to illuminate the human soul."
Ha. This quote stood out to me because this is what so many educators (you and I included) say about the enrichment subjects...art, music, and the like. To put them in the context of dried macaroni, however, is ridiculous and it is the word choice of this article that makes it so humourous. If you think about it, you really could replace all the ridiculous art supplies with "art" in general and the article suddenly would suddenly seem utterly real.
I agree with you that the author sounds like he has a stake in this issue. And it's ironic that while this seems ridiculous to us, many teachers nitpick about the small things that get cut from their budgets...but partly because then the teacher is left to buy the supplies on their own. I think that it was last estimated that the average classroom teacher spends about $100-$150 a year of their OWN MONEY on school supplies, extra notebooks, books, etc. That's insane. So I can understand why no one would want to buy pipe cleaners either :)
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