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&lt;<span class="start-tag">title</span>&gt;What's In It For Me&lt;/<span class="end-tag">title</span>&gt;

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</pre><pre id="line44"><span class="comment">&lt;!-- following code added by server. PLEASE REMOVE --&gt;</span>

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Education is a reflection of society.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> The values of the government and the people are the values of their teachers, administrators, and, ultimately, students.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> For many decades, the American Dream has been that every generation would have a higher standard of living than the one before it.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> A chicken in every pot was not enough.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> It had to be a Revere Ware pot on the newest stove, to be served in a bigger house.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> The field of advertising either led this charge, or responded to it, I'm not sure which, but the goal of &amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>Keeping Up With The Jones's&amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span> became a high priority to the citizens of this country.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

</pre><pre id="line61"> &lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

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It has taken these decades for the problem of this philosophy to catch up with us, but catch up with us it has.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> More Americans feel as if the right to wealth is written into the Constitution, or the right to a perpetually growing standard of living, than at any previous point in our history.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> How and why are not at issue, nor is the cost.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> These beliefs are expressed at all levels of politics - from the White House to State House to Town Hall.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

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</pre><pre id="line66"> We have a president who can afford several residences, who vetoes extended unemployment benefits during a recession while approving five airplanes, each of which would cost as much as those benefits.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> We have a chief executive who wants money for Federal Emergency Assistance to be taken out of low income housing and other social services' budgets.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

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In the Massachusetts State House, the Governor eliminated a $150 clothing allowance for welfare children, and has presided over the continuing reduction of state aid for education.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> He has, on the other hand, produced a budget surplus.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

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</pre><pre id="line72"> In Brookline, the school committee has decided not to participate in the school choice plan that might allow too many non-resident children into its schools, and would threaten to reduce the reputed quality of its education.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> Brookline does allow a certain small number of them to pay tuition, but that's different.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

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<br><br>

People without children say &amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>Why should I support the schools?&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> I don't have any children.&amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

</pre><pre id="line77"> <br><br>

People with children, in affluent communities, say &amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>Why should I support the schools in other towns?&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> My children don't go there, they go here (or to private school).&amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

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People with children in poor communities, or in the urban areas say &amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>Why should I support the schools?&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> My children aren't going to college.&amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

</pre><pre id="line82"> &lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

<br><br>

People everywhere say &amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>Why should we support the schools at all?&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> They aren't doing the job.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> Not like when I was a child!&amp;<span class="entity">quot;</span>&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

<br><br>

&lt;<span class="start-tag">strong</span>&gt;WAKE UP!&lt;/<span class="end-tag">strong</span>&gt;&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

</pre><pre id="line88"> &lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

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So long as the criterion upon which the schools are measured is when you were a child, they will never measure up.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> Memories are impossible to match.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

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So long as your child's future is your sole criterion, your grandchildren will have no future, either.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

</pre><pre id="line95"> <br><br>

If the basis for your decision to support other community's schools is your own town's school's success, your school is failing, and your town is at risk.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

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If a lack of children brings you to decide not to support the schools, you might as well die now.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> You are not a part of the future of the human race.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

<br><br>

</pre><pre id="line102"> Society is a reflection of our schools.&amp;<span class="entity">nbsp;</span> If our schools become places in which a person's behavior is more important than that person's wealth, in which a person's health is more important than that person's grades, and in which a person's self-esteem is more important than that person's academic knowledge, then society will reflect that caring.&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

&lt;<span class="start-tag">p</span>&gt;

<br><br>

But, what's in it for me?&lt;/<span class="end-tag">p</span>&gt;

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