Dear President,

We need to reform the school system entirely. I am a 15 year old high school student. I Currently go to Jefferson High School in Portland Oregon and am worried about the future of not only myself, but of the nation I live in and live for. I need to learn in an environment complementing my success, but the current system engenders future poverty for many families. Here’s Why:

High-middle class and upper class youth are put into rich neighborhoods which are simply more successful than poorer neighborhoods. They get quality teachers, and equipment that is even better. I have attended the neighborhood school every year. First Vestal elementary school, then moving to Peninsula elementary, then ACCESS Academy, followed by Grant High School, and finally Jefferson High School. I have two and three quarter years of high school left at the time you’re elected, and I plan to go to college. Two and a half years gives enough time to alter the system. According to the Washington Post, “51% of public school attendants now are eligible for reduced lunch program. Furthermore, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, there has been a 5% increase of high-poverty schools in America from 1999 to 2007, the number having jumped from 12% to 17% over those measly 8 years.” Know how many schools that is? About 16,122. Imagine that about 200 out of each 400 kids in each school are impoverished. That is well over 3 million suffering kids. Three million American people setup to fail because of their past family hardships. Three million potential talents, overlooked by most upper-class men and women. Wealth can directly relate to power in many ways. One being that you generally gain more money the more powerful you are. Another fact is that one is generally more respected, and has a greater voice the more money one has. Poverty is a thing you must experience before you make assumptions about it. Also commonly, falsely identified when one looks less clean, or successfully hidden if your family struggled to earn those new shoes that you wear. Self-care is a choice for many, but in the past it has proven to be directly related to the money your family has. Homeless people have no choice but to postpone self care.

American Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the idea of a hierarchy of needs. His “Hierarchy of Needs” Theory suggests that physiological needs come first. You need sleep, food, water and bathroom usage. After that Maslow notes that Security needs are to be ensured. Keeping yourself not at risk of harm. Then you need relationships. Friends are important to developing yourself as a person. The final two rungs are of esteem needs and self-actualization. Figuring out your worth, yourself as a person, and why you are here. Generally poorer people don’t have the money to pass the first three stages, that is if they even get there. They struggle to survive in many ways.

A way to reduce the mess of a school system we have is to reduce the costs for future schooling. Adding the smallest support to poorer people will allow for many things including future breakthroughs. If you give the poor a greater chance this will allow for new minds to introduce new ideas potentially breakthrough ideas. It will also improve our reputation as a country, increasing graduation rates and making graduation averages better. It will improve the lives of so many, averaging less poverty per person.

Please improve the education system of the US to further allow this economy and world to grow intelligently. In the end it is one’s mind that proves one’s intelligence, not their money. We need our system to show that, instead of surrendering to money, you should allow the introduction of less wealthy minds. In an interview with CNN, democratic candidate runner-up and brilliant mind Bernie Sanders mentioned,

“We would be taxing Wall Street Speculation… What it [Wall Street Speculation] means is right now, you have people becoming phenomenally wealthy who are speculating derivatives and every other type of assertoric instrument that they can… We will impose a very modest tax on the transference of large amounts of stock.”

Bernie’s statement shows that they would introduce a tax of all large scale exports, taxing the companies and people who lead the export market. The taxation process can be a gradually increasing process, slowly increasing the tax over several years starting at a reasonable percent. This tax would make an immediate effort to essentially pay for everyone’s college, not only that but also a political increase in money. A video made by the 3 million subscriber YouTube channel The Young Turks defending Bernie’s plan to eliminate college tuition also notes that the money would be going to the “Benefit of literally millions of Americans.”

Democracy allows for choice in a government, but if more wealthy people continue to express the opinion benefiting themselves, we will continue to see a limit of ideas. Nobody enjoys a stalling of ideas, so why would a government set this up to happen. Because the government is ran by people who primarily are rich, and have had a rich background. Ultimately, two equations sum up the US economy. Rich people control power and ideas, and the people with the power and ideas determine the distribution of wealth. Wealthy people stay wealthy and poor people stay poor, how much they deserve it makes little to no importance. Is this the type of democracy we want? Is this the type of country we want?