Lynda Barry The Sanctuary Of School Summary

Lynda Barry’s “The Sanctuary of School”, discusses how the education system can be an escape for children with troubled home lives. Barry experienced this in her childhood and found herself sneaking out of her home one night because of an urgent feeling that she needed to be at school. Luckily for Barry her school was close to home and had a wonderful staff that didn’t question why she was there. Barry found comfort in her school it was somewhere she was safe and listened too. She could paint, or draw in art class which is usually a class overlooked in school budgets. Barry’s purpose is to express that school is vital to some children’s lives and gives them a sanctuary that they do not have at home.

I really enjoyed this essay because Barry was able to express her feelings about school systems because of her own experiences. She relied on the structure of her school because that wasn’t something she had at home. I think that it ultimately gets her point across in a very effective way. We read her experience and it

makes us feel more deeply and related to the situation as to why schools are important and should be given more funding. A line in the essay that really spoke to me because of its raw, and unnerving honesty is,” We all know that a good education system saves lives, but the people of this country are still told that cutting the budget for public school is necessary, that poor salaries for teachers are all we can manage and that art, music and all creative activities must be the first to go when times are lean.” (859).
I agree highly with the ideas in this essay.

Barry feels that school systems should be given more financing for the overall benefit of the students. Society now a day tends to neglect school systems because of technology and family lives. Barry wants us to understand that not all children get to learn at home. Home isn’t always a peaceful place for some children it can be hell. For those kid’s school is a sanctuary and a place that always has structure and someone to listen to you. Barry feels that one of the best ways for troubled children to let out their feelings is through a form of art and unfortunately art, and music classes tend to be the first to get cut out of school budgets. I highly agree that school is a hide away for some kids and they should be allowed to express themselves there in many ways. School is a place for them to learn and grow and school systems need money to allow the children to have opportunities to do

so.
This essay spoke to me in so many ways. Growing up in a small town you tend to see how budget cuts do more than just affect the school the affect the children. I watched so many of my peers who had bad home lived blossom and come alive in school, especially in art classes. It’s really a way for them to escape and forget what’s going on at home. Luckily my school had an amazing boys and girls club for after school and many of my friends went to it. They didn’t have to go home and be alone or listen to parents fighting. They could do their homework, draw, and play with their friends. I think that watching how much school helped my friends always made me wish that my school had more funding to support all of its students. It’s just very difficult to get the help from the county or state that we truly need. This essay couldn’t have rung more truthful to me when it said, “We are told in a thousand ways that not only are public schools not important, but that the children who attend them, the children who need them most, are not important either.” (860). When truthfully our education system is teaching our children how to become our future.