An Open Letter to Donald Trump
Dear Donald Trump,
My name is Juliana and I am a student attending Summit Shasta a charter school in the Bay area. Recently in my English class, I was given a project that gave me a realization on how a large amount of money is being spent on war and how some other agencies that benefit the citizens immensely, is being cut off money. What I am trying to imply is that war is very important regarding our economy and gaining power but education is also very important to every person. The increased spending on war is irrelevant because United States has no reason to participate in war today. The increased spending in Trump’s plan on war makes it seems as if there is going to be a long or big war. When reading an article given to me in English class stating the facts of Trump’s spending plan through his presidency, I realized how not a lot of money goes toward the education. The article “Who Wins and Loses in Trump’s Proposed Budget” written by Alicia Parlapiano and Gregor Aisch shows the exact numbers of how much the spending on each agency is changing in the years 2017 and 2018, but also gives analyzation on it. Education was cut $9.2 billion dollars because the money goes towards the military, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. What I propose is that more money should be going towards the people so we could benefit from it, and specifically, this money should be going towards education.
Based on my research, I believe that more money should be going towards education, and to do this we should participate in war less. This is necessary because if more money goes toward education, people will gain more knowledge to make the world a better place that can prevent wars in general. When I was given the “Who Wins and Loses in Trump’s Proposed Budget” article that showed spending plan and budget plan of Donald Trump, it stated that a large amount of the money is going towards war and military. The agencies being funded more money are Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense,in total $59.5 billion is an increase in spending towards war and military. The money is going specifically to the veterans that may have health issues or injuries. All of these health issues from war could be avoided if we only participated in war when it is highly needed or just not participating in war at all. We could also prevent these injuries or health issues that veterans have by participating in war only when needed and using all this money on war by just focusing more on the education of the people. Giving the opportunity of education to everyone can give this world a chance of making better decisions.
Although war is needed in our country and gives United States a balance in the economy and solves many conflicts, war can cause more conflicts than it solves. However, we can find other ways to keep our economy up. War is typically not the best choice to make, and violence isn’t always the first action every country should step into first. I am also not saying, do not help veterans with the health issues or injuries I am saying, “Avoid war and only participate in war when it highly needed”. Help and focus on the lives of the people more and make sure they have life where they do not have these issues.
Later in the “Who Wins and Loses in Trumps Proposed Budget” article it states that “Federal work-study would also be ‘significantly reduced’ while the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which is reserved for college students with the greatest need for financial aid, would also be eliminated.”. With Trump’s new budget education is being cut off money this includes a organization called Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant which helps college students pay for college because of their financial status or problems. Although most of these students obtain a scholarship, it is not enough coverage for them and they still have problems. The Supplemental Educational organization being eliminated causes even more problems for students because it restrains them from being successful in school and later in life because they may not have enough money to reach a certain degree they are aiming for, such as Bachelors degree, Masters Degree or PhD. The government cutting this money off causes many conflicts for many U.S citizens, but if they put more money into education rather than war and military college students would be less stressed financially and more financial conflicts would be solved.
According to Ohio State University article “70 percent of college students stressed about finances” it says “Seven out of 10 college students feel stressed about their personal finances, according to a new national survey.”. 20.4 million citizens in America attend college and 7 out 10 of those students are stressed about paying for college. This stress level can lead to a decline of excelling in school and towards the middle of the article it states “In fact, 32 percent of students reported neglecting their studies at least sometimes because of the money they owed.” Neglecting their studies meaning they had to focus more on making the money to go to school but at the same time could not even focus on their studies because they had to work. For all these reasons, I would like to offer a solution of not focusing on going into war but instead focus on the needs of education and how much you should focus on that more.
Therefore, I implore you to realize that giving more support towards education, you will gain many citizens and other countries respect because of the effort you are putting in to help your people. Just as President Obama improved health care and giving everyone a chance to have health care. Many people gave and showed respect towards him because President Obama gave his people something that benefited them. Even though you took it away… but that is a completely different argument. But by giving a better education to people including college, more generations will notice how you tried to help everyone.
Thank you for your time and listening to my open letter regarding my opinion,
Juliana U
