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Your Tax Dollars At Home

March 24th, 2010 at 01:45 pm

So during tax time I am acutely aware of the fact that the entire income we receive is courtesy of taxpayers like you. So I feel that during this time where many of you are bemoaning the chunk of your paychecks that it might be helpful to know that the money is used for a good cause. So here it goes.

My money is payed for by a federal grant. Our research is evaluating a piece of software that shows stunning results in helping K-5 students learn math. I am payed to add to the research context of our work, perform cognitive tests on the students, and report on these results to my fellow researchers. Our hope is to determine if this software helps some students more than others and make sure the software doesn't hurt any students. The company who distributes the software is non-profit and the program costs schools very little. Teachers and principals constantly thank us for the program.

My husband is a teacher at an inner city school. He teaches political action to minority students through classroom projects which focus on the steps needed to participate in the political process. He coaches an academic team for which he gets payed $2500 total for 6 months of after school and extra weekends. His students are now qualifying for top universities. We are very proud of them.

At home we have been extremely conservative with our money. I borrowed money subsidized by the government to make sure I could get through my undergrad degree and when I graduate my PhD I hope to immediately pay it off. We are saving for a home, retirement, and a child.

So thanks for the subsidized loans, the grants, the public K-22 education, the roads, the police, the firemen, the the research opportunities, the apartment I live in, and most of all thank you to all Americans for our paychecks. We really appreciate it and we work hard to earn it.

3 Responses to “Your Tax Dollars At Home”

  1. Suzanne Says:
    1269440201

    It sounds like money very well spent. We need good teachers!

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1269444090

    Thank you for sharing. I definitely believe in government providing infrastructure and I don't begrudge paying taxes one bit, but it helps me keep my enthusiasm when I see my money being used so positively!

  3. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1269449221

    I tend to think my city could get more stunning results with K-5 math if they would just throw the flippin' math curriculum in the garbage, then play games and explore the world instead. Think you could get a grant to study that?

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