Ezra Christianson-Buck

Ezra is a student at the University of San Francisco and is a former Campaign Intern at Evolve.

Why is education important to you?

Historically, education has been treated as a privilege, used by the elite and bourgeois to oppress the lower classes -- often people of color. Education is the first step to revolution, and the reason many of us have been deprived of it is because those in power know that. I want every single individual across not only the United States, but the world, to find their voice and fight back against that oppression.

How has California's lack of education funding negatively impacted you?

I came from Washington state, which has one of the best public education systems in the country. I was incredibly lucky to receive a quality public education in my pre-k-8th grade schooling, as well as a private high school education because of a scholarship. However, as I am now going through an education program in California and I am distressed and disappointed at the low-quality, often highly racially and economically disparate school system that the "most liberal" state in the country has to offer its youth. California is not doing justice to its children.

How has the increasing cost of college impacted you?

I have been lucky because my family has the ability to take out loans, and that I have had the privilege of being able to focus almost solely on my education in order to get scholarships and other financial assistance. However, the tens of thousands of dollars I currently have in debt keep both me and my mother awake at night, and every year I'm asked for more and more money that I do not have. I am especially worried going into a field of public service like education, where I am probably going to be paid a criminally small salary, that I will never pay my debts off fully.