Health Care and Arts in Schools

The U.S. Senate has passed a major milestone - they were able to start debate on the massive health insurance overhaul bill. Republicans don't like it because it has a public option, taxes ultra-plush health insurance plans that pay for unnecessary services, taxes elective cosmetic surgery, and has cuts in Medicare.

Unfortunately, there are three Democrats, and one cranky old man from Connecticut who also don't like the public option, and one who doesn't like that there's no super staunch, anti-choice language in the bill.

And what is the rationale behind not supporting the public option: these Senators do not want to do anything that may harm the profits of the for-profit health insurance industry.

I didn't realize that people's health should be something considered profitable.

The one thing that I fear so many people miss, however, is that we are already paying taxes for the lack of full health insurance coverage across this country. Never mind the premium share that can easily be counted as a tax, just paid to corporations, but also the fact that, as premium holders and tax payers, we are already paying for emergency care that, were these 40 million plus uninsured Americans insured, would be unnecessary. Preventative treatment works. Visiting your family doctor before an infection festers into an emergency works, and saves money. The fact is that a universal health care system would cost less in taxes to fund than we currently pay for health care premiums.

There's plenty more that can and should be done to mend our horrid health care insurance and delivery system in America, but the Public Option is a good start. The requirement to have insurance (which in turn lowers the overall cost per actuary tables) is a good start.

Of course, education is another enormous piece of the puzzle. Another part of what forces costs up for health care is how much it costs to be one of the people providing the care. Not just doctors and ARNP's, mind you, but nurses, medical technologists, nuclear medicine technologists, pharmacists, optometrists. They all pay higher and higher tuition and books and practicum costs to be in their profession. And we can, and should, do better for education in this country.

I could get into the higher education portion, but instead I'll focus on the lower years.

What saddens me greatly in this country is our obsession with testing, and testing well. Don't get me wrong - I like testing. I like having something with which we can measure progress of pupils in the classroom, and, by extension, those teaching these kids.

However, this focus on making all learning being about scoring well on tests is doing a disservice to our communities. It is taking away the things that make our children grow up into members of our country with ideas, members with passion.

Specifically, the fact that arts are cut first disgusts me.

Kids need the arts. Be that drama, choir, band, or other artistic classes, these encourage our youth to become passionate about what they care about. These classes encourage children to think creatively, to look outside of the box, and to work as a team for a final product that is better than were we to go it alone.

I recently heard that my old school district, which is poised to open it's second high school (because voters were okay with over 3,000 students in a single high school for far too long), is going to cut arts out of one to favor the other. I'm not going to pretend I understand the geographic boundaries of the two schools, or if there is choice that is available to students, but cutting of arts is bad.

Children and youth do better at math and science when they learn music. They appreciate history and social studies more when they act out history on stage. They have a better grasp on reading and writing when an elective, fun class is putting those words into action or song.

And it sometimes gives them a reason to show up at school in the first place.

I know that we luck out in Seattle, with a new School Board member who gets the importance of arts and languages. I just hope that ou legislators get it this coming legislative session, and stop the cuts to schools that lead to the cuts in fine arts.