Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous The Evil of Act 60 The Evil of Act 60 Vermont. When most people hear this word they automaticaly think of tranquility. A place were towns are small, and the people are friendly. A place to get away from the fast lane of the "big city", and get on the road to forgetting your troubles for a few days. You can go skiing and shopping, and then get back in your car and go back to your hectic life. But if spend any time in Vermont, more than just a weekend getaway, you will see a side of the state that many have never seen. There is a war going on. A war that has torn apart a small state. A war over education reform, and an act that few outside have ever heard of, but all will see its outcome. In 1997 the legislature of Vermont, led by Sen. Peter E. Shumlin (D), of Putney, passed a sweeping education reform law, titled Act 60. Act 60 is meant to help towns in Vermont raise the standard of education, which in itself is commendable, but the method is deplorable. In order to raise the money for these towns, a state wide property tax was inacted. With the money raised, $5000.00 per pupil is sent back to each of the 211 communitties in need, at the expense of the other forty-one towns, labled "gold towns." The towns on the "gold town" list are small towns with big business such as ski resorts and, in Vernon's case, a nuclear power plant. These "gold towns" with a combined population of about 50,000, now have to pay a "school tax" of sort for the remaining 211 towns, who have a combined population of 536,000. A town such as Stowe (pop. 3986), a labled "gold town," now has to send a check to the state at the end of each year, so the state can then send a check to the city of Rutland (pop.18, 083) to help pay for their cities school budget, instead of Stowe using that money on their own students. The residents of "gold towns" are being penalized for taking on the responsibilities and headaches of big businesses. These businesses already pay Vermont millions of dollars each year, while also bringing tourists into the state who have to pay Vermont state sales tax, and a rooms and meals tax. All this money would never flow into Vermont if it were not for the towns who have given up their land for development. Now that the state has added this new "school tax" towns in the future will have to think twice about letting businesses reside in their town. The towns that have already allowed these businesses to build are being robbed by a legislature that has turned to a new way of thinking for our little state. It is something that all of us know about, but never associate with our country. Socialism. Marxism. Communism. You probably can not believe your eyes. These are harsh words to be used when talking about your own states government. When we hear these words, many images come to our mind. We see Germany, Russia, Cuba and China. All places we know of, but few of us have ever been to. We do not see the snow covered mountaintops, or the foliage that we all flock to see each fall. These are the images we see when we see when we think of Vermont, but there is one thing in common between these far away lands, and our state. Socialistic government control over all. This is the path the state government has started to take. Take the power away from the people, and make everyone an equal. A drone controlled by the government. This is what Act 60 is going to do. It will take the power away from the towns over how they want to educate their students, and give the responsibility to the state. At first Act 60 may look like a good idea. More money for education. Help the state's children receive a better education. Each person needs to share the wealth. Robb from the rich to give to the poor, as Robin Hood would say. In response to these ideas, two quotes have summed up Act 60 perfectly. In a letter to the editor from state Sen. Julius Canns (R) Caledonia County he said, "power belongs to the people, Montpelier has been consistently eroding that power….. In 1789 Thomas Jefferson warned that the judiciary, if given too much power, might ruin our Republic and destroy our rights. Government control of education, along with the abolition of private property is a doctrine straight out of the Communist Manifesto". Communism? The Communist Manifesto, a book by Adolf Hitler, in which he spells out his views on how a government should be run, and I believe we all know how that is. As for me, and I am sure you will agree, Hitler, and his way of thinking, is not what is best for our state, or our children. Or summed up another way, "This is Marxism", says novelist John Irving, "It's leveling everything by decimating what works." Marxism? Marxism/socialism is a body of social, political, and economic thought derived from the writings of Karl Marx and his collaborator, Fredric Engels. Their thought was simple. If the government controls everything, then the people will have nothing to worry about, and they can live happy and care free lives. This sounds all well and good, but as seen in Germany, you will never arrive at the intended goal, a goal that sounds great. Everyone working and giving all that they have to the government who will then give it back as needed. No one will ever go hungry, or ever be unable to be educated, because big brother government will take care of all your needs. This is a ludicrous dream, one that is unattainable, and if we insist on trying to attain it, just as the Germans and Russians did, then the end of our state, as we know it, is at hand. This is why many people and their towns have rebelled against Vermont's newest socialistic order. As of December 1, 1998, all towns, all "gold towns" that is, were expected to have sent in their property tax checks. Not knowing how the state government would react, four towns, Wilmington, Whitingham, Dover, and Searsburg, refused to send in their checks. And in Dorset, where the property tax will go up nearly thirty-five cents per one hundred dollars of property value, Act 60 has been met with a fury of defiance. The elementary school principle quit when she was forced to fire teachers and scale back art and music classes. John Irving, as mentioned before, is very unhappy, and has a plan of his own. He has taken his son, a kindergartner, out of the Dorset school, and is planning to start his own private school with the principle of the academy where Sen. Peter Shumlin send his children. "My response is as brutally upper class as I can make it," says Irving, "I'm not putting my child in an underfunded public school system". If he is unable to get his school running, Irving says, "I'm moving out of here". These are the sentiments of many residents of the "gold towns". Why should I work hard to give my family the best I can, when the government is just going to steal it from me, and hand it out freely, as if it was theirs. Giving it freely to the other as if the earned it. These are just a couple of the hundreds of stories that surround Act 60. Am I against education for children, of course not? Children are the future of our country, and our state. Without them, we are destined to fail. But Act 60 is not the way to reform Vermont's educational system. Do I have the answers to education reform? No, I do not, but I do not believe following in the footsteps of Marx, Engles, and Hitler is the best place to start. Bibliography: Work Sited 1. Anderson, Thornton, Masters of Russian Marxism New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts Educational Division - Meredith Corporation, 1963 2. Edwards, Tamala M. "Rovolt of the Gentry" Time June 15, 1998: 34-35 3. McGovern, Arthur F., Marxism: An American Christian Perspective New York: Orbis Books, 1980 4. Washburn, Susanne. "Making Schools Equal" Commenweal August 14, 1998 5. Zeitlin, Irving M., Marxism: A Re-Examination New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1967 6. Act 60: Vermont's Equal Educational Opportunity Act. Your Handbook Published and distributed by Vermont Department of Taxes, 1998 Pg. 1-15, Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, VT 7. 1998-1999 Vermont Year Book, 1998 The National Survey Inc., Chester, VT Pg. 36-497 8. Graff, Chris Vermont Education Matters "This Week: Opponents of Act 60 come in many shapes and sizes", AP 1/26/98 www.state.vt.us/educ/012698b.htm 9. Haggerty, Chip The News "Act 60 Opposition from all Around Vermont- Save me From the Doctor!" www.act60.org/news.sln.htm Word Count: 1347
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