FIVE Reasons why FREE Community College is a Terrible Idea

[Hohn]

This cannot be improved, really: Thoughts from the ammo line | Power Line

 

[actaeon277]

Good article. Lines up with the problems I have with "free" college.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Let us stipulate that not everyone is college material. Even for such ludicrous majors as Gender Studies or pretty much anything ending in “Studies.” What this country desperately needs is more technical and vocational training, preparation to become tax-paying workers.

The big lie foisted on us over the last generation or so was that everyone should aspire to go to college. My youngest son told us, in his junior year of high school, he just wasn't college material. He had no interest in going. Instead, he's gone to work in construction, putting in fiber optic cables for a small, local company. It doesn't pay well but as he acquires a new skill (like most recently, getting another endorsement on his CDL), his boss is giving him decent raises. He may not ever make what a doctor, lawyer, or engineer makes but I'm pretty sure he's already making more than somebody with a masters degree in gender studies is.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Anyone actually read the proposal? What it requires? That occupational/skilled trades are included in the proposal?

You can still be against it, but maybe read what it actually is before you decide.

 

[PistolBob]

If the democrats want it, it's a bad deal. They won't be happy until we have two classes of people in the US....dead broke dependent, and stinking filthy rich. No thanks.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Anyone actually read the proposal? What it requires? That occupational/skilled trades are included in the proposal?

You can still be against it, but maybe read what it actually is before you decide.

Which proposal? Bernie's? Or something presented in the article? I read article.

Giving consideration to Bernie's proposal is predicated on a false premise. It's not the federal government's job to take money from you to pay for my college education or welding trade school.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Which proposal? Bernie's? Or something presented in the article? I read article.

Giving consideration to Bernie's proposal is predicated on a false premise. It's not the federal government's job to take money from you to pay for my college education or welding trade school.

Obama's name is the only one in the article, unless I missed something.

Is it the government's job to take money from you to pay for high school? Middle school? Elementary school? Or is public education of any kind verboten?

 

[Route 45]

I think our nation has a compelling interest in subsidizing education for certain fields, namely STEM and vocational/trades. A generation of know-nothings with art and gender studies degrees does not bode well for our future. We need to be able to compete in the global marketplace, and to have home-grown talent working in high tech fields. If nothing else, as a matter of national security. It is not good to have to import STEM talent.

 

[Alpo]

I went to college in California. Jr College was "free" and tuition at the Universities varied from $150 to $1800 a semester, depending on school. Granted, this was when a Mustang II cost $3500.

I know many grads from the CalState system. I don't think I know one of them that didn't work their way through school to pay for books and living expenses. Most of them have been successful in their careers.

Seems to me that of all the things we could spend money on, education is close to the top.

But, if some wish to slosh around in ignorance, that's OK. Takes all kinds.

 

[actaeon277]

Right. Cause without the government, no one will go to college.

 

[Route 45]

Right. Cause without the government, no one will go to college.

Actually, if the government would stop guaranteeing student loans, yes, the college enrollment rate would plummet.
So even though you are being sarcastic, you are right. Just not in the way that you think.

 

[actaeon277]

And yet, before this we were able to maintain the highest tech in the world, even got to the moon.

But I guess we didn't know we needed all those Majors in women's studies, puppetry, professional nanny, pop culture, gunsmithing, fermentation sciences, Canadian studies, decision making, the Beatles, Sex, Auctioneering, bagpiping, bakery science and management, costume technology, Egyptology, Entertainment Engineering & Design, Floral Management, and Turfgrass science.

How did we ever get by without those majors?

And maybe, if you want the government (meaning us) to pick up the tab, it should be by the State, and not the Federal government.
You know, since paying for college isn't in the Constitution, which is supposed to be the rules the Feds are limited to.
Instead, the States could vote on if they will pay or not, with more control by their citizens. And citizens not liking bigger government can move to another State.

 

[actaeon277]

Stossel: College evolves into waste of money - Opinion - Houston Community Newspapers

 

[Alpo]

Anti-education.

It shows.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Actually, if the government would stop guaranteeing student loans, yes, the college enrollment rate would plummet.
So even though you are being sarcastic, you are right. Just not in the way that you think.

Government interference distorts markers, even the educational markets. Under our current paradigm, enrollment would most certainly plummet. But as colleges actually have to compete for students, so might the costs also plummet.

Of course, where would we be without all of those angry, unemployed "educated" graduates, looking for some way to unload their mountains of student loans onto the taxpayers?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Obama's name is the only one in the article, unless I missed something.

Is it the government's job to take money from you to pay for high school? Middle school? Elementary school? Or is public education of any kind verboten?

Federal government? No. Meddling in education is not a power given it in the Constitution.

For the state's? Well, that's a little different. Our state constitution requires that we supply kids with free to them education. Is it their job? Well, that peice of paper says yes.

 

[actaeon277]

Anti-education.

It shows.

Right.
Cause if the government doesn't do it, it can't get done.

 

[actaeon277]

So why are we discriminating?
Why not free Trade School, Beautician's School, Clown College, Apprenticeship Programs, etc?

 

[Alpo]

Right.
Cause if the government doesn't do it, it can't get done.

We seem to be able to fund wars without much of a problem....and then leave behind billions in equipment (and in the case of southeast Asia, billions in hard cash). How many kids could go from pre-school to doctorates on that waste?

I'd rather see the Johnson County schools get the dollars associated with surplus MRAPs than give the sheriff a new toy. Maybe that's just me.....

We fund drug intediction and prison systems.

I'm sure you could get by with home schooling. After all, rugged individualists acting by themselves in their own self interest built the morass we live in today.

 

[actaeon277]

We seem to be able to fund wars without much of a problem....and then leave behind billions in equipment (and in the case of southeast Asia, billions in hard cash). How many kids could go from pre-school to doctorates on that waste?

I'd rather see the Johnson County schools get the dollars associated with surplus MRAPs than give the sheriff a new toy. Maybe that's just me.....

We fund drug intediction and prison systems.

I'm sure you could get by with home schooling. After all, rugged individualists acting by themselves in their own self interest built the morass we live in today.

Morass? You mean the morass where people are living better than any other time in history?

An while war sucks, it is at least one of the primary functions of the Federal Government.