I grew up watching PBS. Sesame Street, Wishbone and Arthur are vivid in my memory; they are a part of the base upon which my education is built.

Sure, bird jokes are pretty funny, and they make great political memes. But our Public Broadcasting System is a vital part of providing education and knowledge to citizens, young and old.

PBS is yet another example of an American product – one we are prideful of – that Gov. Romney intends to cut as he attempts to create an unrealistic budget-balancing solution.

It’s also an example of something Romney plans to cut from the federal government and put onto the shoulders of the states. All this will create is 50 different, and unequal, public educational programs. Consider a public education in Massachusetts, compared to one in Mississippi.

To some, PBS may be a petty, unnecessary cost to the federal government. But these same people probably don’t fully understand exactly what the federal government means. Surely someone who is part of The University of Alabama community, a public state university, can conjure at least one example of a positive, educational experience with public television.

The Magic School Bus, Barney & Friends, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Bill Nye the Science Guy? Educating our children.

And what’s on right now? A program pointing out how the Republicans refute and Democrats avoid global warming, a scientifically proven phenomenon. Educating adults.

PBS gets Emmy Awards, so it’s not even a bad product; it’s an award-winning expenditure.

When I hear candidates talk about domestic aid being a top priority, it translates to strengthening public education. We are already 54th in the world when it comes to educational expenditures – how can you possibly justify decreasing educational spending?

If we want to globally compete, we must provide citizens with the tools to educate themselves. PBS provides children and adult citizens of all incomes with unbiased and uniform educational information.

Consider Terrence Tao, the mathematician who received his Ph. D. from Princeton at the age of 20, an American genius. Where does he credit his educational foundations? Sesame Street.