During the first ten minutes of my Development English class, my professor requires us to respond in our journals to a prompt she assigns. The other day, like countless others, just under ten out of a class of thirty enrolled students bothered to show up to complete the assignment. I do not remember the exact question she had asked in class that day, but our shrinking attendance prompted a serious discussion about whether there would be room for classes like ours in the California state budget.
Naturally, my professor was concerned that our absent fellow students were not taking their education more seriously. But, given the state budget cuts affecting all levels of higher education, there was more at stake than our individual futures: if we failed out of university, we’d be a burden on the system. Our professor warned us, “I know you guys are aware that if you do not pass these courses, then you will be pushed out of this university, and community colleges are getting over crowded.”

And our small attendance--a potential alarm to the administration that the class was not in demand--spelled disaster for future classes of incoming freshmen, whose numbers will have been cut short because of recent enrollment limits. Our professor told us that there have been debates whether developmental courses should still be offered for those who do not meet the college writing skills or math skills. “I feel like it is all a conspiracy; I think there’s people who want to wipe out minorities,” she said. “America does not need you! They look for the best.”
I was baffled for a second; I didn’t know what to think, was she just saying that to scare us, to put us down, or what? My classmates were angry and sad for the future freshmen. My professor’s point was that we are lucky to be taking these courses to prepare us for the college level, but she clearly told us that all of us in her class were not taking our education seriously.
I immediately had an epiphany: She was right about us not taking our education seriously. I am a little skeptical about her whole thing about wiping out minorities, though she might be on the right track. Recently the President of the California Faculty Association, Lilian Taiz, argued that the budget cuts to higher education in California affect low-income, minority students the most.  In fact, the group Taiz represents conducted an independent analysis of higher education in California that cited a marked drop compared to previous years in college readiness among high school seniors acros the board.
I don’t think that all students should be blamed for not being at a college level. I know from my own experience that many high school teachers don’t stress the importance of preparing their students for college- level work.
Next semester my college will offer new schedules. And, though the university assures us that it will try its best to keep up its educational standards despite being strapped for cash, I am afraid that some of the budget cuts could be reflected in the classes being offered. I worry about what the future of education will be.