Despite being placed under the “Fiction” section of Teen Ink’s January issue, “Tissue Flowers” by Zoe S. portrays a harsh reality that many individuals in real life can attest to. In the short passage, Zoe takes note of the change from colorful, tissue-paper flowers made for Mother’s Day several years ago, to the drooping Kleenex-flowers that current third-graders created for the same holiday. This change was due to budget cuts, which, in the text, maybe be fictional, but are very real in society today.
Zoe also does a wonderful job at showing the children’s innocence, and how they do not mind that their flowers are nothing compared to what they could have been if economical times had been better. Surely, however, as they grow older and mature, they, too, will realize that what they were missing out on. Even worse, if this continues and budget cuts to schools worsen, what will the future generation have to make their flowers out of? Recycled papers?
Clearly, everybody, not just schools, have been impacted by economic hardship. However, it is important that schools receive the funding that they need, and more should be done about it. It is not simple art projects that a lack of funding affects. Important extracurricular programs and classes are also taken away, which are still vital to one’s education. Perhaps, Zoe’s simple, yet compelling piece can inspire others to take school budget cuts more seriously, as it did for me, and possibly make it better for the next generation.