Every organization must find a way to pay for expenses, the same holds true for countries. There are a lot of programs and general upkeep that must be financed, and a system has to exist to determine where an
d how funds are collected and dispursed. The citizens of Leafland, a Humanities class at Learning By Design High School in Haysville, KS, spent time learning about this process and have now determined the importance in using that knowledge as a citizen. Lead by instructor, Angela Quiram the citizens began with this question, ”
“Why should a citizen of a country know the budgeting process and what can he/she do about the process if he/she agrees or disagrees with it? Use examples/support from what you learned today in your answer.”
Representative LaurenW began the discussion with a feeling that citizens should be informed,
“A citizen of a country should know the budgeting process because if they know who to go to first then they can let them know what should change and what should stay the same. I first started looking at the budget and what I thought should be spent, and what was actually spent surprised me. I think the budget should have been spent more on education than some of the others that the money was spent on. Besides we should have a say in the budget because we are the ones that pay for the budget. They need to talk to us first.”
Citizen KathleenF feels that knowledge is important for citizens to form their own opinions,
“Its important to know about budgeting in our community so we can use our money wisely. If the people don’t know much about whats going on then they should try learning more about whats going on in the county. If someone doesn’t like the way the money is being handled then they should take their issues to congress and work on getting their ideas out there.”
President StuartL also feels that to have an opinion, citizens need to be informed,
“I think that that everyone should know about the budget because it gives people more of an understanding of what is going on in the government so that people can speak up if they don’t like what the money is being spent on.”
The way a government uses money can be a difficult process to understand. The citizens of Leafland, however, believe that it is important for the average citizen to know how money is raised, spent and why in order to be able to participate in goverment. How will Leaflanders use this newfound knowledge within their own country?
