Undergraduate / Education Budget Cuts, the significance of an issue that is important to me- UT [2]

My prompt is to explain the significance of an issue of importance to me.

Here is my essay. Can you tell me if it is any good. If so, could you point out some errors.:

In my opinion, the educational system is the most vital part of a country. Unfortunately, the people that run the country that I reside in, America, don't seem to think so, or, at least they do not act like it. There has been a trend of education budget cutbacks that has been running rampant throughout the country and our education system is suffering because of it. It seems like when ever the government needs money the first place that they draw it from is the education funds. This decision seems senseless on the government's part because our country is already lagging behind other countries in the subjects of math and science and many politicians are talking about improving the scores in math and science, but I can not possibly see how we can improve these scores by taking money away from many of the educational programs that can probably help these improvements happen.

People are always talking about how education cutbacks will affect the country in the future, but let's talk about the immediate effects of the education funding cutbacks. In my own state of Texas, there are plans to make budget cuts in education that not only affect elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, but also public universities including University of Texas at Austin which may have up to twenty percent of its government funds reduced. This means an increase in tuition for students like me because, you know, it is not already expensive as it is. On top of this, because public education facilities are receiving a reduction in funding, they will have to make some faculty reductions which may include professors and teachers including all of the other changes that they will have to make. This in turn, will create an increase in class size which will make it harder for students to learn. Sometimes these budget cuts cause for schools to be closed down all together. As you can see, education budget cuts create a bad chain reaction that negatively affects so many areas that include job employment, education quality, and tuition pricing.

I feel strongly about this subject because, as a student and a prospective teacher, I want more for the future students than my fellow classmates and I have. I also want to actually see our country's status in education improve and not hear hypocrite politicians just talk about improving it. Not only do I want more for the future students of America, I want more for the future teachers, so they will have more funds and programs to help provide students with the best education because our country can only lag behind so far from the competitors before we are no longer competitors. I am not entering the education field for the money or because it is an easy job. I am entering the education field because I want to make sure that my students receive the rare quality education that I have received from my school. In conclusion, I have strong hope that the education in this country will change for the better, but I do not believe that education cutbacks are doing anymore than increasing class sizes and decreasing the quality of education.

Undergraduate / My English teacher, Ms. Pearson, someone that has impacted my life- UT [6]

My prompt is to write about someone who has impacted my life and explain why and how they have.

Here is my essay. Can you tell me if it is any good. If so, could you point out some errors.:

People usually mention a person that they met early in their lives when you ask them to mention somebody that has impacted their lives. Well, not me. I actually met the person that has impacted my life relatively late in life. That person is my English teacher, Ms. Pearson. She was one of the only teachers that, through watching her, taught me how to be patient, caring, and empathetic. She has only been my teacher for about two years, but in these two years she has definitely impacted my life and even helped me decide what occupation that I would like to enter into, teaching. She is one of the best teachers that I have had because she applies herself differently depending on the student and the student's needs. With this quality, she has both impacted me and influenced me because it shows that she is versatile and that is something that I yearn to be.

I chose my English teacher, Ms. Pearson, because she is compassionate, and I have not seen many teachers like her. When one person in the class does not comprehend what is being taught, but everybody else does, she will make time to ensure that that one person does comprehend it before the class is given a test. She is also very organized and she arranges all of the assignments that she gives at the right times so that the student does not feel overwhelmed by all of the work. She is good at pacing herself and the class because she knows what subjects should be spread throughout the year so that we will remember more thoroughly and which subjects are simple and only need a week's worth of time. For example, we spent the whole year in 10th grade on word roots, prefixes, and suffixes. If we had spent a shorter amount of time on it, I most likely would have forgotten it. This shows that Ms. Pearson did not only impact my life, but she also impacted my education.

Before I met Ms Pearson, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life. In earlier years, I had my eyes set on being a teacher, but one of my past teachers told me that that wasn't the occupation for me because teachers didn't get paid that much and there were so many occupations out there that were open to me. That teacher convinced me to not be a teacher, so I went through a number of phases where I wanted to be different things. I guess you maybe wondering how I finally ended up with teaching. Well, that was all because of Ms. Pearson. She showed such a joy in teaching and brought that same joy to those she was teaching that she helped instill my dream of being a teacher. In conclusion, my English teacher, Ms. Pearson has impacted my life in many ways and she is also an example of the type of teacher that I would like to be in the future.