CAPA

Today was the first day of school for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. I used to go to a public school. I went to CAPA, the Creative and Performing Arts school downtown, where I studied piano.
I was reminded of the fact that the schools were starting today when I noticed a lot more school buses on the roads. When the bus passed the local high school, there was a stream of people getting off buses and getting ready to go into school.
One of the reasons I left CAPA was because of all of the cuts to the public education system. Since CAPA had the highest budget of all the public schools in Pittsburgh, we did have a lot more to loose. From what I gather, 25% of the arts teachers were laid off. Also, since the school couldn't afford to pay a lot of money to the remaining arts teachers, the school couldn't pay for students to have regular private lessons.  So the students in the instrumental, musical theater, and vocal departments only get one private lesson every two weeks, which is such a joke. I didn't even believe that a forty-minute lesson per week was enough, but there you have it.
I am angry at what happened. I think that education should be one of the biggest priorities in our society today. Every single person deserves to go to a good public school.
I am glad I went to CAPA though. I met some of the nicest people there, and made some friends that I will never forget.
A lot of people say that you don't know what you've had until you've lost it. I would agree. I have been to some schools where I didn't know how good my friends were and how good my teachers were, until I left. I think the difference this time is that I did know what I had. I knew from the very first day, when people were welcoming to me at CAPA, and I know it now as well. They were so nice, and I am grateful to them for that.

This is something totally unrelated.
My friend Jacob and I decided that we would "plug"(I think that's what he said) each other in our blogs. His blog is called The Pale Blue Dot, and a lot of his entries have to do with science and Dr. Who. Fun Fact: He took his background picture himself. It's kind of cool.