Students said the upcoming Boston municipal elections may hinge on the issue of education.
Boston University students said they are aware of the problems facing the institutions of primary and secondary education in Boston.
‘There definitely needs to be some sort of change to school systems here,’ College of Arts and Sciences freshman Claudine Margolis said.
Many students said is easy to identify with the plight of Boston Public Schools because public school students are in a similar age group to BU’s population and experience some of the same troubles as in higher education. Students said the old way of viewing education must be pushed out by something new.
It is time for incumbent candidates like Stephen Murphy to end their term as councilors, students said.
‘It’s really time for some of the people to leave’ Margolis said. ‘They’re obviously not doing that [good] of a job.’
Many students said they see flaws in candidates like John Connolly, a current City Councilor-At-Large who heads the City Council Education Committee. Some objected especially in his support of charter schools.
‘Although sending the [more gifted] children to charter schools may be beneficial to some students, it could harm the public schools,’ Margolis said. ‘You no longer have those leaders in the classroom.’
College of Communication freshman Sophia Aronne said charter schools are not ideal because they do not help to level out the quality of education for all students.
‘I don’t actually think that charter schools are beneficial at all, as I don’t think private schools are beneficial,’ Aronne said. ‘I think the education should all be equalized. This gives more of an even playing field for people of all different backgrounds.’
Many students said the system needs innovation. For some, candidate Ayanna Pressley’s pledge to provide after-school programs may offer the necessary change.
Aronne said she believes in Pressley’s support of more extracurricular activity in students’ lives.
‘After school programs are a very good activity that most teenagers should be involved in,’ Aronne said. ‘I know a lot of students that did after school programs were good students. I had friends who participated in programs like those, and for many of them, that’s the reason they are going to school.
Some students agreed with the proposals of candidate Tomas Gonzalez. The education aspect of Gonzalez’s campaign has centered on initiatives to afford families better opportunity for education before their children even start school.
COM sophomore Rebecca Bellan said preaching the benefits of education to children at a young age and their parents works.
‘I’m a strong advocate for starting strong with education at a young age,’ she said. ‘I have experience helping kids in my old neighborhood and I can only hope that it affected them.’
But COM freshman Ronnie Smith said aiming policy changes at the younger generation may not have a lasting impact.
‘It does [help] to have a good foundation, but once they get to high school, motivation might not be there anymore,’ he said. ‘It’s a good idea, but the reality is it might not do anything at all.’
Bellan said attempting overly to reach students in high school may be a lost cause, and she thinks candidate Tito Jackson’s plan to get college students more involved in the high schools and vice versa is not feasible.
‘At this stage, with a sixty percent graduation rate, these kids might already be lost,’ Bellan said. ‘Are these kids honestly going to listen at this stage of the game? I feel that in theory it sounds alright, but I honestly have no faith in the system.’
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