CBL component

The CBL component of the course helped to bring to life the issues with the interactions in government. It made the issues more close to home and easier to see the problems that are created. My community partner had a lot of issues with budgeting and their interactions with the local school district. For this reason, I paid closer attention to the chapters on budgeting and what issues could be stopping money from channeling to the P.E. program at Valley Oak High School. In addition, it was useful to learn about the way in which government entities could raise moneys for their respective CPs. It made me realize the importance of property taxes and how they can raise more money for schools. In addition, it pointed out that schools, although they are supposed to be equal, will have different abilities to raise money based on the value of the property in the area. This made me question why Valley Oak High School does not have adequate funding for P.E. even though it is in the Napa Valley where property values are high because of vineyards etc.

In addition, my CP made me think about the channels in which to influence change. Powerful interest groups such as teachers unions have the ability to effect change in educational policy. In addition, the governor of a state has the ability to push legislation through the legislative body by gaining the trust of an assembly or senate member and having that representative push the bill through for them. This tends to happen when the governor has strong personable skills and has connections to members of congress. In addition, the governor can bring the topic up at the federal level at the annual governor’s meeting where they discuss common issues. It is amazing how many different channels there are for influencing change with my CP. Never before was I able to think of this. In addition, I thought more about how I could help make a difference with my sister after working closely with her. It made me more aware of just how difficult the situation is for many teachers.

I think the most useful part of the CBL component for this class was having a CP that made issues come more to life. Without the CP, I would not have examined issues in this class as closely as I did. It made me think a lot more about the issues that affect the different entities within the government. It was also helpful to learn from other people’s CPs. For example, Sam’s CP who was the local library brought to life the issue of privatization. If she did not have her CP, I would not have thought about why it may be a bad idea to privatize a library. Erika’s CP also brought to life the idea of capacity and the ability to serve a communities needs on a limited budget. The various CPs brought to life so many of the different issues we talked about in the class. In addition, we all picked such different CPs that the majority of the issues covered some type of element of state and local government that we talked about. This helped to make the issues more real and close to heart.

In the future, I think the CBL component to the class will continue to be helpful. Although it can be time consuming and stressful to put the extra hours in outside of class, it helps to understand better how state and local government can function. It also helps to illustrate problems that would otherwise go unnoticed. The best way to understand exactly what is going on in the world is to see it firsthand.