David Sakry, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
Students In Wallace, Idaho React:
"At a first glance, the Harry Singer Foundation Project seemed overwhelmingly complex and difficult. However as our class's project progressed,
the project began to unfold and I realized that it was within our reach and that we could in fact carry
out our plan."
Randy Johnson, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
"I thought we would decide
on a topic and a few people in the class would end up doing all the work while the others pretended
they were busy so they wouldn't fail the class. I was wrong. After we had heard the details of the project,
about doing something for the community, my class actually joined together and got busy."
Camille
Mangelli, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
"When we first started this project for Harry Singer,
my classmates and I had no idea what we were going to do. Once we started thinking of ideas, we couldn't
stop."
Margaret Reynolds, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
We heard the word "challenge" over and over:
"In the past couple weeks, some of [the] most talented [members of our] senior class
faced a challenge. We were to figure out a realistic way to save or raise money for the local government.
It took weeks of research and hours of in-class time; however, we came up with an idea. I am very excited
about our findings because if our calculations are right we could raise thousands of dollars in just
a month."
Angie Siefert, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
"As a challenge from the Harry
Singer Foundation, the students of the sociology and American government classes of Ramsey High School
in Ramsey, Illinois, a small town in central Illinois, were to conduct a survey to find out local needs."
Bill Eddy, Ramsey High School, Ramsey, Illinois
"We accepted the challenge of finding a way
to continue saving money and stretching the resources of local government."
Dustin Gwinin, Meadow Bridge
High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia
"Our first step in trying to pursue our project was
to go to city council and ask permission. ... The council members said that we could try to do the project,
but they had problems in the past trying to do the same thing. We decided to accept [the] challenge
and keep on trying."
Camille Mangelli, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
"This assignment took
a lot of cooperation and time. I believe it was somewhat of a challenge for our class. Our groups worked
really well together. We all had the same goal, which was to finish this on time and do it the best
we possibly could."
Tonia Cook, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
Expectations
"As
a class we were to divide up and poll the general public and officials, give examples of alternatives,
provide [feedback concerning] resistance to our proposal, and discuss volunteer incentives. Through
this we were to learn about [local] government É and better understand how our system works."
Anthony
Allen, Rock Hill High School, Ironton, Ohio
"Mr. Smith's fifth hour class chose to study and
write about the possibility of putting [commercial] ads on the vehicles owned by the state and federal
governments. At this point the class divided into two research groups to study the feasibility of this
project, come up with cost estimates, find the impact on the community, and discuss pros and cons."
Justin C. Trafton, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
The exception:
"This contest was meant
to explore ingenious ways to save money and stretch the resources of our local government. [Our class
was] unable to do this because our city government has a surplus of money due to the fact that the city
owns its own waterworks, electrical service, street cleaner, telephone service and sewer system. There
are very few cities in the country that own their own telephone system as well as electrical system.
Because of these things, our city budget has an surplus of approximately $61,000. I think this is pretty
good for a city of around 2,000 people."
Brent Berg, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
Unfortunately, not many communities have Barnesville's surplus revenue and so they must constantly find ways to stretch public dollars. Crystal, below, asks:
"Is it possible to form a proposal that would save money and
stretch the resources of our local government? Yes, thanks to the Harry Singer Foundation's essay contest,
we have been able to prepare 'Alternatives' in the way we go about overcoming financial problems that
would build a better community for all Meadow Bridge citizens."
Crystal Stallman Meadow Bridge High
School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia
The essays begin, introductions varied:
From precise:
"This
essay will show what we can do to better our community without raising taxes."
Sheryl Ott, Medicine
Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
"In the spirit of Al Gore's Reinventing Government
proposal, we are exploring ways to stretch the resources of our local government."
Kelly Martin, Meadow
Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia
"First of all we need to find out what unneeded services are being funded. If the community does not want these services why waste the money?" Alicia Dothager, Niantic-Harristown High School, Niantic, Illinois
"In order to create a perfect community,
one must know what the community wants, what the community does not want, and how it will accomplish
the goals it has set."
Kevin Fowler, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
To philosophical:
"AlternativesÑThe
root of that word, alter, is also the root to the whole project. To alter means to change or improve.
One way of improving a community is by stretching the resources of the local government and, at the
same time, meeting a need of the community. Whether it be beautifying a park or saving a hospital, a
decision-making process must occur."
Becky Ward, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota
"What
is good for some is not always good for others. There are many ways to spend tax dollars in a small
community. There are very few ways to spend them wisely. There are even fewer ways to ensure the approval
of the public when spending these tax dollars."
Chris Masters, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine
Lodge, Kansas
"Recently the American government class, in conjunction with the sociology class
of Ramsey High School, united and discussed possible ways to improve our community without raising taxes.
The classes [discussed] ways people [can] come together with the community, or individually, to subsidize
tax money. [We discussed why] some communities were successful while others were not. The classes formulated
a plan to better understand the needs of the community."
Angi Nash, Ramsey High School, Ramsey, Illinois
"During
our lives, we all must make choices. Whether we realize it or not, the choices we make not only affect
us but affect others as well. Will we make these choices [according to] our own wants, or will our choices
be influenced by what others wish to have? Do what the people desire and all ends well. Is this true?
This project/essay will explore this idea. We surveyed to see what the people wished and then found
the costs, incentives and disincentives to grant that wish. Let us examine what we discovered."
Shayne
Holland, Camden Central High School, Camden, Tennessee
"People seem to have the idea that without their contribution the governmental and educational systems will run fine. But this is far from the truth. The People is what our government is based around, and without their opinion or voice, the people have to accept what their government proposes. This is why, in our democracy, we must voice our opinions to our representatives and congressmen, so that we can have a better society for [ourselves] and our [children]. James Goebler, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas
To instructional:
"In
the following essay I am going to attempt to sell you on an alternative for government funding. This
alternative is the result of a series of polls and classroom discussions. A total of three classes brainstormed
and came up with many viable and unviable alternatives. The final alternative was the result of classroom
voting."
Aaron J. Thorvilson, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
"Many small communities are
faced with a serious problem. This problem is the tax base is not large enough to support all of the
[government] programs. To help find a solution, the Medicine Lodge senior government class polled and
collected data on what should be done. The information received from the citizens set guidelines. With
this information, we conceived a plan that will allow the city to do two things: the first will lower
taxes and the second will allow the city to keep its community service."
Matthew Boyter, Medicine Lodge
High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
Many were informative:
"Rules. Regulations. Licenses. How
much is too much? Studies show that the more information people have, the better choices they'll make.
This essay is a compilation of research done on a small rural town in Minnesota called Barnesville,
population 2,066."
Paula Tenderholt, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
"This project
was a very good learning experience for me. I learned that it takes a lot more work to decide and work
on a project than you think. I also learned that the town of Wallace has very helpful citizens and [public]
officials. They took the time to answer our questions and were always available. I really enjoyed
working on this project and the pride I felt when it all came together."
Katy Elliston, Wallace High
School, Wallace, Idaho
The participants from Harrisburg High School in Oregon, divided into three groups. What follows is an edited version of "Student Narratives" submitted along with the class essays. Teacher, Sue Churnside wrote:
"I asked the kids to write their individual roles in narrative form so that their essays could stand by themselves. I hope this suits your need for how active they were in utilizing community resources and what they learned about the adult world of problem solving."
Group One
Our group conducted a survey of the community. We made the survey as specific as possible to get to the heart of the community's problems. We felt our survey did just that. We then decided to find out what our council members were presently doing to improve the community. Some of us called and talked to the water/sewer chairman, and another member of the council. The information obtained in this process helped us determine the pressing needs of the community. The next step was to find a hypothetical community project and list the roadblocks and other concerns, such as cost. After looking at the results of our poll, we decided that the best project would be to build a recreation center for all ages. Our first problem was finding an ideal location in our town for the proposed center. Michael went to city hall and picked up a map of the area. He then used a KeyCAD computer program to draw up plans for the recreation center. He also consulted his mother about some of the licensing details because she had once been a member of the town planning commission. Then we had to consider the location of our town in respect to others as a factor in determining the number of outsiders we might expect to use our center. Other problems included funding limitations and the need for people to operate the proposed center. Jennifer attempted to call Doug Post in the Eugene Parks Department about the possibility of declaring Harrisburg a recreational district which would cut back funding requirements. Some students found things that might stop construction of such a project. We passed this information on to group two.
Group Two
The theme of stage one was to discover incentives or disincentives that the city of Harrisburg or surrounding communities were prepared to offer to our proposal. We began by contacting communities surrounding Harrisburg and asking them about any recent improvements or any that were in the planning stages in their communities. We wanted to see how other communities dealt with program cuts. Jeremy gathered phone numbers of city halls, high schools and elementary schools from local towns of population and business size approximating Harrisburg. Deanne called the city of Coburg and talked to three members of their park fundraising committee. The committee shared strategies for contacting outside sources. Cary called Harrisburg city planner, Dan Eckles, to ask questions about past problems and how they were resolved. She also asked about possible tax breaks offered by the city to attract new businesses. Justin did the same thing at Junction City. Mary called Mapleton city planner, Kathy West, to ask what the Mapleton community had been organizing and asked to be alerted to possible problems. In stage two students sought prices for the materials that would be needed for the recreation center. Jeremy came up with phone numbers of recreation centers in Eugene and Springfield which used equipment similar to that of the proposed Harrisburg center. These centers were called and asked about the manufacturer and cost of their video games, pool tables, dunk hoops, batting cage equipment, children's plastic play equipment and to find out the cost of operating centers.
Group Three
We read the handouts provided by
the Harry Singer Foundation and produced a summary to present to the rest of the class. The information
was divided into four sections. All group members read all the information but four people were assigned
to be specialists on a specific section. The remaining two students became generalists and their job
was to add input in areas that the specialists may have missed. Ben Tilley describes the material: "My
general impression of the reading was quite amazing. My section of the packet talked about government
regulations and how they affect different people with different occupations. The second section was
about civil service and it's effects. [Michelle made phone calls to Harrisburg City Hall and to Lynn
County to find out if their city, county and state ran on a civil service system.] The third section
explained privatizationÉ[and] the fourth and final section talked about volunteerism."
The second
stage was to discover incentives and disincentives that might be encountered if the project were to
become a reality. The group looked for ways to fund the project which involved talking to more officials,
including the principal of Harrisburg High School. Grants, forming recreation districts and other ideas
were discussed."
The students in Kinsley, Kansas show what went into creating the poll:
"Developing a ballot
for a poll presented a challenge in itself. The class wanted to come up with a fair yet accurate account
of the public's opinion about the use of the local tax dollar. We first had to define public opinion.
Getting the community's opinion would be an enormous task, if not an impossible one. So, it was decided
to conduct a questionnaire-interview type poll."
Michael Konrade, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
We had these goals for the poll: it must be concise, accurate, and thorough. We developed a simple poll intentionally to hold the interest and hopefully assure a thought-provoking answer from the pollees.
The people polled were from four basic areas:
seniors, juniors, parents of seniors and business people.
Business people and parents made up the majority of the groups, because the majority of taxes in our
community are paid by these people."
Mitchell Brack, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
"This
questionnaire consisted of a list of five organizations, public services mentioned in the panel presentations.
Also, the questionnaire had a section for comments so the people could give their own questions or concerns."
Michael
Bennett, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
Each class used a different approach:
"We created
a poll which asked questions about what services should be available to the community and how it would
be possible to provide services without increasing taxes."
Laura Vaught, Niantic-Harristown High School,
Niantic, Illinois
"In a recent survey conducted by our class, we polled to see exactly what should
be cut out of our everyday activities. In the survey, we included whether the community was for or against
such things as zero tolerance, vouchers, and what we should cut out of our schools. [We polled] É people
from the public and from different races, employments, and even different voting areas."
Lisa Bonin,
David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas
"On the class surveys we had three different categories;
recreation options, service needs, and public improvement options. Under recreation options we had [things]
like a public swimming pool, recreation center and bowling alley. Under service needs we had things
like 9-1-1, a day care service, full-time doctor, local police and so forth. Under public improvements
we had things like new street signs, new sidewalks, small business tax relief, public clean up of the
community."
Eric Kingery, Ramsey High School, Ramsey, Illinois
Conducting the poll
"The first
order of business was to poll the general public. Polling the public at the local shopping centers
provided us with a starting place. After polling a hundred and forty-six individuals we concluded that
safety was the biggest concern of the general [public]. ÉWe conducted a second poll of public officials
and others."
Anthony Allen, Rock Hill High School, Ironton, Ohio
"Poll two was [conducted by
a] group of [20] courageous students [who] volunteered their free time in the evening to call people.
Each student was responsible for calling 10 people."
Matt Davis, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
"The
first step in the project was to survey the community and realize the needs of the local population.
A door to door survey was conducted, and in total 350 people were surveyed. The top three rated needs
were local police, a 9-1-1 service, and a recreation center. A second survey was conducted of the elected
officials and they showed that the most needed change was also local police."
Brandon Luster, Ramsey
High School, Ramsey, Illinois
"The first poll was given to 100 local citizens to see how community
services rated."
Shane Broce, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
"Each member
of the group surveyed different people with a total of 60. Each member interviewed two of the people
they polled in-depth. From the results, we chose our project."
Laura Vaught, Niantic-Harristown High
School, Niantic, Illinois
The questionnaire was distributed to over 100 people. The people ranged
from high school juniors to prominent community leaders. The public was asked to rank the organizations/public
services in order of lease important to most important and fill in any comments that they might have
had."
Michael Bennett, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
"To help us come up with a possible
solution, we polled people in Austin from every walk of life to discover their views on the situation.
This was not an easy task. Many people needed to have the meaning of 'zero tolerance' explained to them,
were not clear as to exactly what it meant to have vouchers, and did not even realize police officers
patrolled certain schools."
Alison Faden, David Crockett High School, Austin, Texas
"Our first
goal was to determine the wishes of the public. To do this we divided the class into six groups. Groups
one and two were asked to poll the public."
Matthew Boyter, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge,
Kansas
"In an effort to learn what the citizens of Centerville would like to see happen to our
community in the event of budget cuts, the junior class of Centerville High School took a poll of community
members. This poll was to [discover] what services [residents] would like to see to improve the quality
of life in our community, what they want to pay for, and what they would be willing to give up in order
to control the rapid spending growth of government."
Bryan Stevens, Centerville High School, Centerville,
South Dakota
"As a group of students, we didn't know much about what was happening in our local
government. To offset this problem, our class decided to attempt the second polling group first [in
order to discover what might be] cut in our county. Forty-seven people holding different government
positions, or in some way affiliated with the news media, were interviewed and asked what possible cuts
[they thought] would be made in community services if taxes were not raised."
Joseph Watts, Camden Central
High School, Camden, Tennessee
"The method that we used to uncover this information was a random
sampling as well as a definite sampling. We contacted many fine citizens along with important people
in government and business. Some important governmental figures that participated in our survey were
Max Baucus (US Senator), Mark Racicot (Montana Governor), and Kay McKenna (Helena Mayor). Also included
in our survey are opinions from local business people. The companies that donated the valuable time
of their general managers were U.S. West, ShopKo, and Wal-Mart. Local banks also contributed. É Without
their opinions this whole project could not have happened."
Patrick W. Hill, Helena High School, Helena,
Montana
Corry Sloan takes us though the process. She and two classmates share the results obtained by student polls in Montana:
"Sixteen to eighteen of our students went door to door polling our residents and compiling their responses to five questions.
The first question was: 'Do you have any ideas [to make] government more efficient?' The number one response to this was consolidation and middle-management cutbacks. These services need to be cut and reviewed so that the deserving people receive what they need. Government should be run more like a business was third in our poll. A business's main objective is to make money. If our government was run this way it would be more efficient and more cost effective, thus saving taxpayers' money.
Question number two was: 'What are some unneeded services?" Social services was the number one response. Welfare is not doing the job for the price taxpayers are paying. The system is corrupt. There is little to show in the success area. The service must be radically reformed or put to an end.
The fifth and final question asked was: 'What services should government add, if any?' A majority of those polled felt that there should be no new services added. Many of the services we do have are unneeded and we cannot afford to add any more. The number two response was medical. Some of the medical systems we have now are not adequate to serve the needs of our towns. There should be more added in some areas. Public transportation was another service people felt should be added. The systems we have now are not making it. They should be changed to meet the standards of the community. The number four response to this question was that there ought to be more services to help the elderly. The elderly population is climbing in our country and there needs to be more and better services to take care of them.
In poll two, nineteen of our students got on the telephone and made calls to influential people in our community. They were involved in a conference call with Montana's Senator Max Baucus, Superintendent of School District Number One, Gary Toothaker, Budget Director Dave Lewis, Governor Marc Racicot, Lieutenant Governor Dennis Rehberg, Helena's City Manager Bill Verwolf, City Commissioner Tom Huddleston, and Mayor Kay McKenna. Also involved in the poll were managers of major department stores. All in all, approximately 150 people were called and were asked four questions. Question number one was: 'If a tax levy failed, what services would be cut?' Educational and extracurricular activities received the most response. Some classes are state mandated, such as four years of English or three years of math. These classes should be kept, but other activities of classes, such as art, or other non-mandated classes, would have to be cut down. Social services wasÉnumber two. There should be cuts in these systems in order to make up for the money lost due to the failed levy. Maintenance had the third most responses. Even though people are always upset with the conditions of the roads, they would rather see that money go to a more needy service. The number four response was in public service. These services should be cut to recover some of the money that the failed tax levy would have provided.
Question number two was: 'How deeply would they be cut?' The main response was that it depends on how much the levy would have provided. Cuts should only be made in order to recover from the failed levy and should not exceed that amount. If all areas were cut, then we could maintain balance in the systems. There were three responses that were tied at number two. They are: completely cut, minimal cuts, cut five percent of budget. A few people think that everything should be cut. Others feel that the cuts should be minimized and make the beneficiaries of the levy not completely suffer, but they would have to make do with what they could get. Finally, some people felt that there should only be a five percent budget cut to try and help the situation.
Question number three was: 'What would the impact be on the community if the levy failed?' Two responses were tied at number one. There would be a negative effect on the community. There will be no good that would come out of this. It will have a very bad effect on almost every aspect of our community. Also there would be a loss of services. Many of the services we are use to for everyday livelihood will have some cuts made to them. There were three categories that each had five responses. Some felt that if the levy failed, it would have little or no effect on the community. They also said that the lost levy would hurt people. People would be without work and children without extracurricular activities. Education loss was another response. Some classes would have to be cut in order for the mandated classes to stay in the school system.
The final question was: 'If taxes are not raised this year, what services can we expect to do without?' There were four number one responses. One is that we need all the services we now have and could not do without them, but there must be a better way to run them. Two is that we could expect cuts in social services. Three, correctional facilities should be cut. Too much emphasis is put on government-funded places to try and correct the criminals in our community. It should be up to them or their family to pay, or at least share the costs. Finally, public services might also be affected if taxes are not raised. Either these people will keep their jobs with no raises, take drops in pay in order to acquire more personnel, or they might have to lay people off in order to keep what they [can] with the funds they receive.
The reason for doing all these polls was to try and determine
what the people in our community want in terms of alternatives in government spending. In the process
of this, our three classes compiled a list of eighty-nine possible alternatives to help government cut
spending."
Corry Sloan, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
"People want more enforcement of recycling and sale of products. Some people would like to have a 'Recycling Team'; a group of people that go around to houses collecting the households recyclable products. People also want to 'eliminate all of the officials that are unneeded.' People think that we should 'eliminate the middle man's job' and [dismiss] extra administrators, 'Quit swapping them into extra jobs instead of firing them'. É Others said, 'Pay politicians less.' A couple other people thought it would be good to cut costs on workers compensation. É The next most popular portion of our survey was foreign aid. People are having their hard earned dollar going to help some people across the seas when it would be much more helpful to have the money going to help our own hungry and homeless people in the U.S. If we did start doing that, then there might be less crime and sickness spreading in this country.
All of [the] people [polled] would like to see cuts being made in welfare. My observation on this response is that people are tired of their hard earned money going to [people who] screw up [their] own lives and expect everybody else to see that they live well.
People want to see a cut in police funds. [They] are sick of dishing out a lot of money for police to apprehendÉ drug dealers, murderers, robbers, etc. and then see them [back] on the streets to commit the same crime the next day.
What services should be protected at all costs?' The number one response É was police. People are concerned about crime in their community. They do not want it to get out of hand. [The] Fire Department is [a highly prized] service that should be protected at all costs. É The next most important service is schooling for children. People want their children to get an education so they can be somebody when they grow up. Some people think that Medicare is something that we should keep at all costs. I don't know why it is so important to some people, but I guess it was important enough to make our survey. 'What are some services that government should add, if any?' was the fifth question. The most popular response to this question was 'None.' People think that there is enough stuff that they burn their money on so they don't need any more. Another response to this question was health care other people wanted better paying jobs. I think they're just tired of working [for] minimum wage.
One more popular idea that we [heard expressed] was [the need for] low income family services. (Help getting a job, finding [adequate] housing, etc.)" Rick Smith, Helena High, Helena, Montana
Anna sums up:
"The top four ideas for how the government
could be changed to be more efficient involved consolidation, cutting administration, running the government
like a business, and cutting some social services, such as welfare and road construction."
Anna Spoja,
Helena High School, Helena, Montana
Polls told participants what adults in their community were thinking:
"In the writer's opinion, the poll
creates a very predictable pattern. The pattern reflects upon the community. Programs for the youth
are poor programs for the elderly are in good shape. This directly reflects on the age and prosperity
of the town. Medicine Lodge is an aging community. One of the only possible ways that this town can
prosper is for it to attract new business, which will in effect, bring a younger population."
Chris
Masters, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
"People found that trash pickup and
transportation for the elderly were the most satisfactory. Secondly, the city pool and entertainment
for the kids seem to be the weak spots. This is where the improvement needs to take place. Shockingly,
73 percent of those people polled in the community were willing to have a tax increase to improve our
community as a whole."
Shane Broce, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine Lodge, Kansas
"Group
One's poll was based on how well the programs are carried out. Thirty-seven percent of the people think
the sidewalks are in good shape. Only 34 percent approve of the condition and use of the recreation
building. Only a minute six percent think that entertainment for children is sufficient. On the other
hand, 86 percent approves of the waste disposal programs. Transportation for the elderly is considered
nearly perfect with a 99 percent approval rating."
Matthew Boyter, Medicine Lodge High School, Medicine
Lodge, Kansas
"The results of the surveys were great. Over 350 people responded to the surveys.
The main thing the people wanted under recreation options was a summer youth program. The main thing
people wanted under service needs was local police with a 9-1-1 service a close second. The [priority]
under public improvement options was a clean up of the community and a clean up of abandoned buildings."
Eric Kingery, Ramsey High School, Ramsey, Illinois
"The main focus was to either increase the
effectiveness of an existing service or to replace a service with a more efficient or broader one. [For
example] improving the school library by expanding it and adding computers to it."
Mitchell Brack, Kinsley
HS, Kinsley, Kansas
"The objective of the telephone poll conducted by the class was to determine
the public's general feeling on the subject of unemployment in our area. Included are ideas of one hundred
businesses and one hundred citizens. The majority of the businesses polled are willing to contribute
to the work involved in attracting new businesses to Harrisburg. Currently, about half of the businesses
polled are actually helping the unemployed. Some of their efforts include hiring part time workers and
expanding their work force. Funds provided for the retraining and education of the employees laid off
due to governmental cutbacks and regulations are limited and unsatisfactory."
Kelly Gorman, Harrisburg
High School, Harrisburg, Illinois
"Out of the 200 people [polled] 60 percent chose beautifying
Wallace. They felt since our town makes most of it's income on tourism, we should have something to
[attract] people. Eleven percent felt we needed better snow removal because our winters can get downright
obnoxious. Nine percent viewed street improvement important; you could probably fall in one of our residential
street potholes and never be seen again. Last but not least, the other twenty percent we categorized
as miscellaneous, which included the detrimental constituents and some rather unconventional suggestions."
Kirsten Krulitz, Wallace High School, Wallace, Idaho
They analyzed the responses and tried to see the questions from the respondents point of view:
"The result of question one left the class
feeling that the people's greatest concern was the city streets. However, there is a possible reason
for those findings. The weekend before the poll was taken, Barnesville received four inches of new snow
at a time when snowplows were not operating. We used this information to understand the citizen's feelings
at the time of the calls."
Brent Hagen, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
"They all seemed
very shy to talk to us. É That they don't really want you to know about what is going on. Whenever there
are people's jobs on the line, they immediately shut up and won't go into full detail about with you."
Jim Clark, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
"While conducting Poll II we had many people turn
us away. Some did not answer because of their job; it was against their policy. This was [the case]
with the news station. They were reluctant because they could not have any statements that might be
judgmental to the government with their names on it. They were more willing after we assured them there
would be no names mentioned."
Roni Graham, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
None of the polls were conducted scientifically and the students were aware of the limited value of the results:
"Our
research, however, does have certain margins of error. A majority of those polled either said that the
city was perfect and needed no improvement, or refused to comment. Some of the students in this project
worked only during school hours which resulted in a cross-section of Barnesville that was usually unemployed
or retired. Other errors were that many people were confused about the questions asked or did not have
enough background information about the town they lived in to make an intelligent response."
David
Sakry, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota