The Republican War On Higher Education
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Eliminating public education and selling it off to their for-profit, corporate contributors is the entire basis-- implicit and explicit-- of conservative education policy. It's no coincidence that corporate shill Michelle Rhee is working for the most reactionary right-wing governors in America like Scott Walker, Tom Corbett, John Kasich and Rick Snyder and being financed by anti-public education fanatics like the fascist-oriented DeVos and Koch families. Their long-term goal, according to a People for the American Way report "is to make all schooling an activity supplied by private sources: for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools. The movement believes that targeted voucher plans, such as those in Florida, Milwaukee and Cleveland, give them a foot in the door en route to achieving this goal. While many of those who want to privatize education choose their words very carefully, others are more candid about their goals. The Heartland Institute’s Joseph Bast has urged others who share his group’s extreme agenda to be patient. 'The complete privatization of schooling might be desirable, but this objective is politically impossible for the time being. Vouchers are a type of reform that is possible now, and would put us on the path to further privatization'."
In terms of higher education, their most cherished dream is to abolish Pell Grants, which once covered three-quarters of a needy student's college education. Today it basically covers the cost of text books. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) is like a poster boy for the GOP's war on Pell Grants. Like every single Republican in the current Congress he voted against restoring Pell Grants and other financial aid to college students, like the grants he used to get himself through college not very long ago.
Default: The Student Loan Documentary is a riveting 27 minute movie by Aurora Meneghello and Serge Bakalian. It chronicles the stories of borrowers from different backgrounds affected by the student lending industry and their struggles to change the system. Few Americans have the full understanding what the student loan predators are doing to college students and how the GOP has been complicit-- in return for gigantic, legalistic bribes. The film is being screened around the country-- I saw it the other day-- and hopefully it will be released nationally soon. Meanwhile, please take a look at the trailer. This isn't just about Kevin Yoder, of course... it's about the Republican Party's dark, dystopian vision of the future, a vision that is determined to destroy the American experiment and turn us into one gigantic plantation.
Labels: higher education, Pell Grants, public education, Rhee
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 2:00 PM
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8 Comments:
Glad you're covering the war on college students!!! We're all buried in debt.
After making their student loan payments, recent grads barely have enough money to survive. What a drain on the economy this is. They have almost no disposable income. Yes, student loan programs have been abused in the past, but the draconian measures that have been taken to collect the loans are overkill.
I am much in favor of government support of education, and I don't mean just glorified vocational training either. A basic knowledge of liberal arts pays many benefits both personal and societal.
All of society benefits from having educated citizens, so all of society should help bear the costs. The graduated student will pay for the education via taxes.
But having said that, I will also say that our method of higher education has gotten to be ridiculously expensive and woefully inefficient. (And don't get me started on college textbooks, which have been a HUGE scam for decades.) Government grants to allow students to attend private universities will not fix that. On the contrary, it's a great and terrible incentive for universities to become even more expensive and inefficient.
I believe that public universities, like they used to exist in this country before that piece of shit Reagan destroyed them, are the antidote. They are (were) both an effective tool for students of modest means, and a source of competition that helped keep the cost of private eduction down.
Education should be a civil right, Like health care. Both promote the General welfare as demanded by our constitution. Unless we begin to follow our constitution we cannot succeed as a political entity. These four words are some of the most important ever written in a political document and our founders knew exactly what they were saying. The said nothing about promote corporate welfare. If our so called supreme court which is nothing but a political court does not get this simple fact then what good are they. They become nothing but corporate shills like our other politicians.
In response, "Wow". Liberal arts degrees do not positively affect the society. They have and always will be an option to increase someone's knowledge in a particular field that has very little effect on day to day life. The individual who chooses to study Native American History will likely work at MacDonalds. Is he learned? Why of course! Is he really helping pay the burden of that education? Hell no!
"The graduated student will pay for the education via taxes"???? I must refer you to www.usdebtclock.org. It will quite simply show you there that education costs are increasing and student loan liabilities are increasing, but for some reason we are constantly facing a DEFICIT (did they cover that at university?) Taxes do not cover anywhere near enough to handle the bloated welfare state that exists already! Much less increasing it. SPEND WHAT YOU HAVE NOT MORE THAN THAT. A lesson we teach our children, yet it seems to be lost on university graduates. The other wonderful part of taxes is that like I said, the likely outcome will be working at minimum wage job barely paying taxes, leaving it to the higher wage earners to cover his "higher education." FORCED SHARING AKA COMMUNISM is an evil facet of the left. ("All of society benefits from having education citizens, so ALL OF SOCIETY SHOULD HELP BEAR THE COSTS") (Thank you "me" for the ammo.)
Offering children the chance to share and the option to after explaining the moral benefits is one thing. Forcing them to share is coerced and wrong. It will teach them nothing and worse, it will lead to animosity among the other children forced to "share". Much like today's social scene. Why can't people learn?
Debt ceilings can not continually be increased to "fund" (increasing debt can barely be considered a rational form of "funding"). It is a ridiculous notion and needs to be shown to be such.
Spending can become an illness and the "educated" people among us need to remember that.
To sum up, taxes do not "pay" for education. And "yours" won't even help that magnificent goal. You can not tax the wealthy enough to handle the absurd burdens "educated" dead beats put on them. And lastly, "forced sharing" is a strong indication of a socialist state. (Don't be offended.)
And always remember that us greedy horrible folks are the ones who made it possible for you to even have the option of liberal arts degrees. They should be options after you contribute to society, not an alternate route to contributing. These entitlements must stop and they must stop now.
Also, I can not believe you talked about "incentives." You should check but such talk is reserved solely for right-wing bastards. I use it all the time to describe why government doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of understanding how to "nurture" the economy. (Like it needs it at all.)
"Confused Pigeon" - What an appropriate name!
So let me get this straight... Pidgeon, you are suggesting that kids like me with iqs in the 140s and sats in the 2200 range shouldn't get to go to college? According to your logic, only the rich should be able to go to college in order to make a living one day? I want to be an engineer and I WILL be paying taxes one day.. So I guess my overprivileged broke ass should just work a Mcdonalds job that I am OVERQUALIFIED for and let all the kids who aren't NEARLY as smart be the doctors who are treating you and the lawyers who are defending you? Social mobility is necessary in a free society and without financial aid, social mobility is impossible for MANY. I suppose you are right though.. We should avoid that "communist" idea of social mobility and go back to England in the 1600's when the poor were doomed to poverty and the rich were rich just because their parents were rich. My god you are an enlightening man! I hope that your vision becomes true, you get sick, and get stuck with a dumbass doctor just because he was the guy who could afford college!
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